Magma and Aqua Turf
by Spark Plug x
Summary: He's just a stupid, cocky, and flirty Aqua loser who pisses her off just by existing. She's just an over-working, short tempered, and fun to mess with Magma freak who makes him want to push her buttons even more.
1. Chapter 1

Cassius Rushton was only 7 when he got his first Pokémon. Yes, it was a Magikarp, but he loved that thing to pieces and called him Siren. Whenever he was near the water, it was right beside him splashing and swimming around. His parents weren't too pleased with the Pokémon his grandpa gave him, but, they were ignored. "It does not matter how weak a boy's first Pokémon is, as long as it stands by him and refuses to give in, just like the boy." His grandpa said. He knew that the little magikarp wouldn't be little for too long.

When he was 10, he was given an Eevee as a present from his parents. A going away present actually, however, he wasn't the one going away, they were. He was sent to live with his grandpa down in Slateport city while his parents did marine research in Jhoto. He was a little upset that they were leaving, but he didn't mind it too much. He ran around and battled with his Pokémon on the beach and helped his grandpa on his boats. As long as he had the ocean near him, he was happy.

He couldn't understand why some people didn't love the sea. It was beautiful! As he grew older, he started to learn how to surf and take care of his grandfather's boats and ships. He wanted to be a captain too and he always told his Eevee and Siren of the day they would do it together. He didn't want to do anything without his Pokémon. He didn't care if people called them weak, they were his and he was going to make them strong.

Of course, when Team Aqua attacked one day, his plan changed. To a 14 year old boy who loved the sea, a group of people that wanted to expand it sounded like the good guys and when his grandpa moved to Lilycover, near Team Aqua's head quarters, he took it as a sign and joined the team, unknowing of how evil he would have to be.

He was given a Zubat upon joining and now had three Pokémon. He thought he had a pretty good team put together and knew that if he kept training them, they would soon evolve and become stronger so he could kick any one's butt!

* * *

Cassius was out with a few other Aqua members north Mauville City when he realized how horrible some members of Tam Aqua could be.

Some of them ganged up on a numel and wouldn't leave it alone. Cassius wasn't entirely sure what to do. He was just a lowly grunt and if he stopped them, they might turn on him.

"HEY!" A female yelled and ran up to them. "What do you think you're doing battling this poor thing 3 to 1?"

"Don't mess with Team Aqua, brat!" A grunt said. She rolled her eyes at this and stood her ground in front of the Pokémon. "Fine! Get her!"

Cassius really didn't know what to do. The girl was obviously not scared of them and the other grunts weren't going to just walk away. Luckily, Team Magma grunts came before the girl was beaten up too much. She just had a bloody cheek, which was bad, but, it could've been worse.

"What the hell are you Aqua losers, doing here?! This is our turf!" A grunt yelled and called out her Pokémon to scare them off. A few other grunts followed her lead.

"Yeah right." An Aqua grunt rolled his eyes, but they hurried off, not wanting to start a scene and get in trouble with the boss. Cassius looked back as they ran off and saw Team Magma helping the girl up. He felt awful about it, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

* * *

"I can't wait to hit the beach this weekend." Cassius said to his partner, Aimee. She rolled her eyes at him. Now 17, Cassius wasn't so worried about moving up in ranks at all with Team Aqua. His Pokémon were strong, so who cared? If he moved up in rank, it just meant more work for him! He would rather be out on the beach having fun

"C'mon, get your head in the game. We can't mess this up." She said but Cassius shrugged.

"Have a little fun and don't be so serious. If we mess it up, we can blame it on Team Magma." He whispered to Aimee so their commander couldn't hear them. "The beach festival this weekend is cooler."

Aimee looked at him, but she had to agree. She didn't even know why they were here! She hated this town because so much ash fell from the sky. It got all in her hair and made her smell like Team Magma. Ew.

"You know I have my head in the game, but, Fridays." Cassius led off, sighing. He loved Fridays, it meant fun for the weekends, but, work was a drag. "Let's just do this right the first time." He muttered his mind elsewhere. Every other day of the week, he was ready to work, steal, spy, and do his job, but, Fridays.

You all know that feeling.

He adjusted his bandana and stuck his heads in his pocket as they walked through town. He wanted something different.

"Commander," He started, looking at the curly haired girl. "What are we doing here?"

"To get a meteor before Magma gets to it." She said.

"Can't I do something else? You know that this type of stuff isn't my thing..." He grumbled but she brushed him off, heading into a cave. They hurried after her and she moved down quickly to the drop off spot they had planned earlier.

"Looking for something?" A male voice said, it echoing in the cave. Cassius looked over to see a Team Magma member with the rock in his hands.

"Ah, Commander Tabitha," Shelly said, getting to the front of her group. "Now, let's not start a fight Commander, it wouldn't be fair, would it? Just hand over that meteor and we can leave without conflict."

"I don't plan to have a conflict." He smirked and called out his Pokémon. "Mightyena!" He yelled and a mightyena snarled, appearing in front of Shelly. Cassius reached for his pokeball, ready to fight.

"Take care of them. We need to get back to base." He turned around and headed towards exit of the cave. The Mightyena shot a shadow ball at the group. It hit the ground and dirt, dust, and smoke went everywhere, making it difficult to see.

"Cas!" Aimee said and reached out for her friend, making sure he hadn't tried to go off after him. The smoke cleared and the Aqua group looked around to see an empty cave.

"Damn." He kicked a rock, not pleased that he had gotten away so easily.

"We need that rock!" Shelly yelled and it echoed in the cave.

"Dammit.." He groaned. This meant overtime.

* * *

**Super glad that I redid this chapter. I hope you like Cas, because I sure do.**


	2. Chapter 2

Natalie Chem was 10 years old when she got her first Pokémon. It was an eevee from her parents. She had her heart set on it becoming a Flareon because she loved fire Pokémon so much. If she could, she would only have fire Pokémon, but, she knew that was quite unlikely.

"I think you should wait a few years until you decide what you want your eevee to become." Her mother told her as the two ate dinner. Her parents had spilt two years before for reasons Natalie wasn't allowed to know.

"But mom-"

"A flareon is very pretty, but, so are Vaporeons, Espeons, Leafeons…" She continued. She didn't want her daughter to have a single fire Pokémon; she hated them so. This had reasons Natalie wasn't allowed to know either.

So, she waited. She went off to Johto, both of her parents' idea, to become a Pokémon trainer. It was a lovely place, not her favorite, but she was able to adjust well with her eevee by her side. After two years of traveling in that region, she decided that it was time to come back home and travel around Hoenn. Once back home, he father gave her one of the best presents in the world.

A fire Pokémon. And not just any fire Pokémon, a Torchic. One of the cutest Pokémon in the world!

Natalie ran everywhere with her Torchic and Eevee, to her mother's displeasure. She tried to convince her daughter to join Pokémon contests, but the young girl just brushed it off, claiming she was too young to dress herself and her Pokémon up and parade around a stage for judges.

When she hit 14, she wanted to know more about her dad's job and why she didn't get to spend much time with him.

She didn't know what his job even was until she went through his stuff and found out he worked for Team Magma. She took off to find him and headed towards Mt. Chimney. She knew the base was up there, she read it in his papers he had hidden away.

"That's why he and mom spilt!" She muttered to herself and then saw a bunch of people hurting a poor numel.

She just couldn't walk away. Natalie headed over to stop it, unfortunately, it was 3 against 1 and she wasn't able to call out her Torchic in time to battle. She was pushed to the ground, hitting the right side of her face on a rock. It started to bleed quickly. She was kicked and hit until someone stopped her attackers.

"What the hell are you Aqua losers doing here?! This is our turf!" A girl yelled and Natalie heard the growls of Pokémon. Her attackers ran off and a few females in weird outfits came to help her.

"Are you okay?" One asked, helping her up and giving her a tissue to hold to her bleeding cheek. "Commander, we need to get her help."

"She's not a part of Team Magma, just take her into town, someone will help her!" He said, not in the mood to help a poor girl.

"My dad works for team magma!" Natalie said and leaned on the girl. "His name is Paul. Paul Chem."

"Dr. Chem?" The girl questioned and Natalie nodded her head weakly. "Commander, we need to take her in. He's not going to be too pleased if we left her and that could lead to problems…"

"Alright, just hurry up." He headed off, leading the group. Natalie stumbled along through the trees and mountains before heading into some rocks, appearing in a room before being led down some stairs to the medical room.

"Nasty cut, miss." The doctor said, cleaning it while Tabitha leaned against the counter, an annoyed look on his face. "How did this happen to you?"

"I got beat up." She muttered. "Some losers in pirate outfits were hurting this little numel.."

"Team Aqua." Tabitha said. "Those were the people that were beating you up."

"Oh. I hate them. I hope they die." Natalie said, scaring the doctor a bit.

"Nate!" An older man said, busting into the room. "Are you okay?"

"Daddy!"

"Don't you 'daddy' me." He muttered, running a hand through his short brown hair. "What did you do? Why are you even here?"

"She was defending a numel from Aqua grunts, from what I've heard." The doctor said, putting a big bandage on Nate's cheek before examining her arms and legs for any more cuts. "Brave daughter you have, going against Team Aqua like she did, just for a little Pokémon."

"So, you shouldn't be mad at me." Nate said to him. "Besides, I didn't lie about my job. You could've told me the truth you know. Team Magma is cool. They're nice. Except pants over there." Nate rolled her eyes at Tabitha, who rolled his eyes back.

"Maxie is always looking for new recruits." The doctor told her, wrapping one of her legs with a bandage.

"Don't tell her that. Her mother will kill me." Her father said, not wanting his daughter to join the organization at such a young age.

"I'm in!" Nate grinned and Tabitha groaned.

And, that's how she joined Team Magma. She hid it from her mom by coming home every night and claiming to have been training all day or exploring the desert. Which, she did do.

She liked her job. She enjoyed running around, taking orders from Tabitha. He was the only person she would listen to actually. That's why she became 'Commander's pet' to the other grunts. She didn't enjoy the nickname and she challenged anyone who called her that to a Pokémon battle and then would go all out on them.

She wasn't a commander's pet. She just…liked Tabitha a lot. He was a great commander and although he could be mean, she enjoyed it. He was sarcastic, snarky, and sneaky. She followed him everywhere. He was surprised at first, since he thought she would be a pain in the ass, but he got use to it as the years passed and eventually began to rely on her more and more.

Though, she wasn't too pleased when he told her to wait outside with the other grunts so he could get the meteor.

"B-But, Tabitha." She said after hearing her orders. "Why do I have to wait out here with the others?

"So we can get away quickly." He said while he tried to ignore her whining. "When I come out, we're heading straight down that mountain pass and into the forest, got it?" He said to the other grunts. They nodded their heads.

"So unfair." Nate crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Tabitha hurry into the cave. The group hid while they waited incase Team Aqua showed up, which they did. They stayed still until they heard a boom and Tabitha and his Mightyena appeared from the cave entrance with the meteor in their possession. "Took you long enough." She said and the group ran off as Team Aqua kicked themselves for not getting the rock.

* * *

**Also super happy that I redid this chapter. Please excuse any spelling errors or mistakes! Thank you~**


	3. Chapter 4

Cassius rolled out of bed, hitting his alarm clock to shut it up. He got dressed and brushed out his hair, putting his bandana in his pocket. His Aqua bandana covered his 'reverse skunk' hair, as his grandpa called it. It was blond with a streak of brow right down the middle, like a skunk, but, reversed with more light hair than dark.

He looked good and he knew it.

And he hated covering it up. He stuffed his uniform in a bag and headed downstairs, grabbing a pop tart and left his grandpa's house, heading down to the ocean to get to the hide out. He called out his Gryarados and rode it out to the base. Once in, he hurried off to the locker room they had and changed into his uniform and stuffed his normal clothes into the locker. He ran down the hall looking for Shelly.

"Took you long enough to get here." Shelly said when he showed up. "We've got a mission, let's go."

Cassius groaned. He just got here. Couldn't he get something else to eat? No. Of course not. He went off after the group, not even sure what they were doing or where they were going. All he knew was that he was hungry and Team Magma was in their way, again.

He shouldn't be complaining. He was the one who joined Team Aqua, so he should be happy to go ride in a submarine for an hour or so, appear in a cavern and go searching for clues leading to Kyogre while watching out for Team Magma. That was a lot to be happy for though, and he was finding it harder and harder each day to muster up that happiness.

Unfortunately, it was rainy all last weekend, so the beach festival he was so excited about was cancelled and rescheduled for the next weekend. At least he had something to look forward to at the end of this week.

"Hey, keep your eyes open Cassius!" Shelly said, elbowing him. He snapped out of his thoughts and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry commander." He apologized and started to scan the tunnel they were walking down. Rock was everywhere, with little puddles of water everywhere. "Why are we down here?"

"To look for clues regarding Kyogre and to keep Team Magma from finding any clues leading to Groudon." She told him. Why did he even ask? This was the same thing they did almost every day.

And like every day, they weren't finding many clues. And again, just like every day, Team Magma showed up.

"So we meet again, Commander Tabitha."Shelly said as the two teams met face to face in an more spacious part of the cave.

"Lovely." Tabitha said and crossed his arms.

"Are you here alone?" Shelly asked with a smile and Cassius rolled his eyes. Was she trying to flirt with him or something? Why would he come alone? He probably had grunts everywhere and they were probably going to jump out and scare him. It was only Shelly and him! The others had hurried off to different tunnels and he was forced to stay with the commander.

"Of course not. My team is looking for clues while yours just stand around and do nothing." He told her bluntly, not in the mood for fake niceness. "Team Aqua is here with me." He said into his headset.

"Yes commander, we have a few here with us, we're taking care of them." A voice spoke back and Tabitha smiled.

"Yes sir?" A grunt said, running out of a tunnel and standing by Tabitha's side. Cassius stared at the girl, who seemed to be a little out of breath as she pushed some of her light blonde hair back a little underneath her hood. She turned towards them and Cassius couldn't see her face because of the shadow her hood casted. He hated those things, super ugly.

"Are you wanting to battle Commander? I guess so since you called your little pet to come and help you." Shelly said as her smile back on her face and the grunt stiffened, not pleased with Shelly's comment.

Cassius' hand went to his pokeball as the magma grunt's hand flew to hers. She was ready to call out her Pokémon and battle, but the cave began to shake and rocks started to fall from the ceiling.

"Team, get out now!" Tabitha ordered into his headset and Shelly did the same. The two teams looked at each other again and ran into their opposite tunnels before they could get caved in.

Shelly was not pleased with how the mission had gone and she complained about it the whole ride home. Cassius never thought it would end until he finally got to walk through the front door of his grandpa's house, meaning the work day was over. "Gramps?" He called out, wondering where his grandpa was. He thought he might be out in the harbor, but he was usually home by now. He looked into his grandpa's office, the living room, the bedroom, and everywhere before trotting back to the kitchen, hungry and tired.

He found a note on the table, which did explained that his grandpa had gone off to help his parents with something they had found while researching the oceans of Johto and Kanto."Well, guess I'll be alone for the next week or so." He told himself and set the note back down. "He needs to start taking me on these sea adventures."

He called out his Crobat and Umbreon and fed them dinner while he made his own. He was so happy when he finally got to crawl into his bed to sleep.

Two hours later, however, his phone was buzzing and it wouldn't shut up. "What?" He answered groggily, half asleep.

"Wake up! You need to get to the base, pronto!" Shelly's voice boomed through the speakers. "We need to get to this before Team Magma does!"

"What? Get to what? I wanna sleep." Cassius whined and he heard Shelly sigh.

"Get. Up. This is an order! I don't have time to listen to you whine! We found some valuable information about Kyogre and we need to retrieve it, now! Meet us on the beach!" She said and click, the line was dead. Cassius pulled himself out of bed and got dressed. He tied his bandana on his head and grabbed his pokeballs before trotting downstairs and out the front door towards the beach.

The beach was empty, except for the group of Aqua members Shelly had called in. The sand looked so pale as the moon made the beach bright by reflecting off of the slow moving waves.

"Morning." Aimee said and yawned as Cassius walked up to her. "Why do we have to out and do this at 2am?" She asked and everyone groaned.

Shelly soon got the group's attention and pushed everyone onto the Team Aqua aircraft. Cassius had no clue where they were going on how long it took to get there because he fell asleep and stayed asleep until they arrived and Shelly shook him violently, waking him up.

"Let's go." She ordered the group and they quickly excited the aircraft, stumbling and yawning as they did so. "This way." She said and they followed her through the forest. It was dense and dark, with only a few flashlights being used to light their way. Some nocturnal Pokémon flew in the sky, startling the group every so often as they were already on high alert for Team Magma.

Cassius had no clue where they were even going and Aimee was scared of the bug Pokémon that appeared every so often and grabbed onto his arm out of fear.

"What are we looking for?" Cassius asked as they started to walk up an incline and had to watch his step.

"A shrine sort of thing." Shelly said. "It was built for Groudon and Kyogre. You guys, spilt up. Cassius, you come with me." Shelly ordered and the group spilt up. They headed through some trees and some went back down the incline to search below.

"Why did I have to come with you?" Cassius asked as they continued to walk. His feet were starting to hurt and he wanted to sleep.

"Because, I knew you'd go back to the aircraft to sleep and in case Team Magma is here, I'll need you to team battle with me. That grunt that showed up yesterday at the cave will bond to be with Tabitha and you'll have to fight her."

"Whyyyyy?" Cassius asked, getting grumpy from lack of sleep.

"Because, you have an Umbreon, correct? Well, she has an Espeon that she uses quite often, and you will be able to beat it with your Umbreon." She explained. "Besides, it looks bad if I'm by myself and he has her following him around. From now on, you'll come with me on every mission, think of it as a promotion."

That's not what Cassius wanted. At. All.

"But why me? Why not Aimeeeeeeeee?" He whined once again and she hit him.

"Quiet. Because, you have an umbreon and you can take her Pokémon down easily. I know your Pokémon are stronger than the others, so you stay with me and you back me up. I don't need that stupid Magma commader making jokes about me because my grunts don't work!" Shelly whispered harshly, turning to look at him with serious eyes. "We do not need that Meteor Falls incident happening again, understood?"

"Understood." Cassius said, wide awake now. Shelly had gotten serious and handed Cassius a lot of reasonability. He hated it, but he couldn't just ditch her. He didn't want Team Magma making fun of him either!

"Good."

"So, I'm like your sidekick, right?" Cassius asked with a smile.

"I suppose so." Shelly rolled her eyes, wishing he would start to whine again instead of make jokes.

"Sweeeetttt. We should get capes."

"No, I really don't think so."

"We would looks soooo cool."

"We would look stupid. Tabitha has a cape." Shelly pointed out and Cassius' smiled fell.

"Damn, nevermind."

Silence fell over the two and Shelly smiled at it.

"We could get masks."

"Cassius."


	4. Chapter 5

**Hola! Thanks for all the reviews! You can still submit a character either by review or by private message! (Though PM is easier, I'll take both) Remember, just because you submit a character, doesn't mean they'll get stuck in Team Magma or Aqua, and if they did, I'd give them a badass role, like a spy or something.**

* * *

Natalie glanced over at Tabitha as they walked down the hall of the hideout together. Grunts were hurrying around them, not making eye contact with either of them. They stopped at Maxie's door and turned towards each other.

"Good luck in there." Nate said with a small smile and Tabitha didn't look too amused. "Don't worry about it Commander, really. It's not your fault that the cavern caved in. It was probably Team Aqua's fault actually." She frowned at the thought of Shelly and the boy that was with her. She hated Team Aqua so much and she hated Shelly with a passion. Why was she always trying to flirt with HER commander? Tabitha was not Shelly's! He was Nate's!

"He's not going to be happy that we couldn't find anything." Tabitha stated and knocked on the door, waiting for his boss' permission to come in.

"But you tried at least. Don't stress yourself out over this. We'll take down Team Aqua next time they try to get in our way!" Nate made a fist and she swore Tabitha was about to smile when they heard it.

"Natalie, although I'm glad you are excited about defeating Team Aqua, you need to lower your voice." Maxie said from inside his office. Natalie froze up, embarrassed that her boss had heard her.

"I'm very sorry sir." She said to the door. "I'll lower my voice from now on."

"Good. Tabitha, you can come in now." Maxie announced.

"Good luck." Nate whispered and watched Tabitha go into Maxie's office. The door shut with a soft _click_ and mumbled voices were soon heard from inside. Nate, although she didn't want to, decided to leave Tabitha and her boss to their business and headed towards the base's exit. It was time for her to head home for a break.

Her mother would know something was up if she didn't come home for lunch, so she slipped into the girl's locker room to change out of her uniform. She changed quickly and stuffed her uniform into her bag and left the room. She wished she could just live at the base like most of the other grunts did and like her Commander did. It was so much work to sneak out of the base and down the mountain side, back to Mauville City to see her mom and eat lunch, then slip back up the mountain and into the base.

Of course, there was the fact that her mother would ask her what she had been doing and how was her training going and Nate had to lie to cover up her actual life.

However, the guilt that came with those lies was long gone. The lies were easily told and forgotten soon after. She didn't feel bad at all, and why should she? This was her life and she wasn't going to stop doing something she was good at it to parade around a stage with her Pokémon in front of a crowd!

"Hello honey!" Her mother smiled as Nate walked into the house. "Oh goodness, have you been training on the mountain again? You smell like smoke..." Her mother sniffed her.

"Yes, sorry about that." Nate said with a smile. "Blaziken likes it up there." She explained. "I need to get back up there soon."

"I was hoping you would spend the rest of the day with me." Her mother frowned, wishing her daughter wouldn't train so hard. Of course, it was much better than being a part of an evil organization, like her ex-husband, Nate's father, was, but she wished she wasn't always rushing around.

"Oh.." Nate muttered. She wanted to go back to work, but if she kept blowing her mother off, she would get suspicious and start to follow her around and would soon find out about Team Magma, which was the worst possible thing to happen. "Well, Blaziken wanted to train today, but, I'll talk to him about it after lunch. I'm sure he won't mind putting off training until later." Nate said with a fake smile and her mother hugged her happily.

"Perfect! There's a big Pokémon contest going on right now! They're showing it in HD on the television! We can watch it and learn so much!" Her mother cheered, excited to spend time with her daughter doing something they both loved.

"Awesome!" Nate said with so much fake enthusiasm it hurt. Her mother thought it was just a 'teenage phase' when Nate told her she didn't want to do contests a few years ago, so she continued to push it until Nate just gave in and pretended to care.

Her mother talked throughout lunch about work and her friends and life in general that Nate seemed to be missing out on. Nate wanted to tell her mother all about her day at work, how Team Aqua ruined their plans, how Tabitha put too much stress on himself, but she knew she couldn't. That was talk for her father, whom she would get to stay with next week. Sometimes, she wouldn't mind talking to her mother about her life, but the shady areas of it just wouldn't allow it.

Once lunch was over, her mother went to find the station and Nate went outside to 'talk to Blaziken', which meant call Tabitha. She dialed his number and waited for him to answer.

"Hello, Nate?"

"Commander, sorry, but I can't come back into work today. My mother planned a mother-daughter…event." Nate explained hoped he wouldn't be mad at her.

"That's fine, things are slow around here at the moment and you would probably just cause trouble and make a mess anyway."

"Hey!"

"It's true." Tabitha said and smirked. "I'll see you tomorrow then, alright?"

"Yes sir, see you tomorrow." She said and they both hung up. She slipped back inside and sat down on the couch next to her mom. "Blaziken is cool with it." She told her and her mother smiled and their mother-daughter time began.

A tap on her window woke Natalie up and she stumbled out of bed and peeked through her blinds to see Tabitha standing by her window.

"W-What's wrong sir?" She asked as she lifted her window up.

"Time for a mission." He stated and Nate closed the blinds so she could change. She almost slipped a few times, but she got her uniform on and grabbed her pokeballs and punched the screen out of her window so she could slip out. She shut it back and left the screen out so she could easily get back in.

"Why didn't you call me?" She asked and rubbed her eyes, following him out of town and towards the cave that was in Verdanturf Town, where she saw a group of other Magma members standing together.

"Figured it would wake your mother up." He said, thinking about how loud Nate's phone ringer probably was. "Besides, I knew you would answer the phone and say you were on your way, but then you would lay back down in bed to 'rest your eyes' and before you knew it, you'd be asleep again, so I decided to come and get you myself."

"Commander, have some faith in me." Nate said with an annoyed look. "I'm like, your number one grunt. Totally your biggest fan." She made a goofy face at him. She tried to be completely serious when she was with him, but sometimes she just couldn't help but be a little goofy.

Tabitha rolled his eyes and wondered why he even put so much trust into the girl in the first place when she constantly made jokes. They met up with the group and everyone waited for Tabitha's orders.

"Listen up; I don't need you guys screwing this mission up. We're heading to Rustboro forest. There's a shrine somewhere inside the forest dedicated to Kyogre and more importantly, Groudon, and we need to get there before Team Aqua." He explained as they headed into the cave. The cave path wasn't long and they were out of it in a matter of minutes. They snuck into Rustboro City and onto the path that lead towards the forest with ease.

However, once they got into the forest, it was a bit trickier. It was a little cloudy out, so every once in a while, a cloud would cover the moon and that meant that their source of light was blocked. Navigating through the forest was extremely difficult with tree roots and rocks and small ledges making it dangerous as well. Bug Pokémon being everywhere didn't help at all either and a few members wanted to scream. Flashlights weren't brought because of the fear that they would draw attention. No one would be out walking around the forest at 2 something in the morning. Well, no one that was up to any good would be out walking around the forest at 2 something in the morning.

Nate was starting to feel the effects of not getting enough sleep and was not happy about being woken up this early. However, they were on a mission and there time to complain on a mission.

Except now.

"Commander, can we please not ever do this ever again? Ever?" Nate asked and fumbled over a few of her words. "At least give me a warning ahead of time so I can go to bed earlier."

"We're almost there." He told her, brushing off her question and request. "It's suppose to be around here somewhere." The group followed after their commander and soon they were ordered to split up. Of course, Nate volunteered to stay with the commander and since everyone knew not to try and mess with her, she went with him.

The groups spilt up and dispersed into the dark forest, hoping not to wake any Pokémon or trainers that spent the night in it. Nate's eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness of the forest and she was able to avoid the tree roots and rocks that got in their way, still, her body wanted to go back to sleep and she found it difficult to keep her pace up the more they walked.

"Nate, keep up." Tabitha said, dodging a branch that stuck out in their way. Nate slowly went under it and trotted up to her commander in an effort to keep up.

"Sorry sir, I'm tired." She mumbled and took more steps to keep up with him. His strides were so much longer than hers that it was getting too difficult to keep up with his pace. She settled for walking behind him rather than beside him. The two stayed quiet as they got deeper into the forest, looking for any clues that might lead to the shrine. "Is it around here?"

"Should be right around here." Tabitha told her and made a right turn, running straight into Shelly and her new sidekick.

"Of course." Shelly said when both sides stopped in their tracks. The boy next to her looked as tired as Nate was, but he looked alert now that they had run into each other. "Commander Tabitha, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Tabitha said, not returning her sly grin. "We're both here for the same reason I assume."

"Isn't that always the case? I thought you and your little hooded crew would be curled up in bed fast asleep." She asked and looked at Nate for a few brief moments. Nate looked back and towards the boy standing next to her. She watched him to make sure he wasn't going to try anything funny on them. The last thing she needed was being blindsided by some Aqua grunt.

"My 'little hooded crew' is out finding what I need them to find and doing their jobs. I bet your pirate gang is asleep somewhere in the forest." Tabitha crossed his arms and looked at Nate from the corner of his eyes. Her hands itched towards Espeon's pokeball and her body stiffened slightly when she felt her commander's eyes on her. It always made her feel nervous, even if it was for a few seconds.

"Hmp, they're all doing what I need them to do. By the looks of your little grunt there, I sense that your crew are the ones asleep. Mine are wide awake and ready to do their jobs." Shelly smiled at Nate who glared back at her and grabbed Espeon's pokeball, just dying to hear Tabitha tell her to battle.

"Cassius." Shelly said and the boy pulled out a pokeball as well. So Cassius was his name? He called out his Pokémon and an Umbreon appeared from the pokeball. Nate cursed under her breath, but called out her Espeon, even though she knew she had the disadvantage.

Nate looked over Cassius with a slightly disgusted look as her Espeon did with his Umbreon. The Pokémon got ready to attack and their trainers eyed each other, wondering who was going to make the first move.

"Umbreon, bite!" Cassius ordered and the dark Pokémon launched itself at Espeon. Espeon managed to dodge most of the attack and waited for her trainer's orders.

"Espeon, hit it with signal beam!" She gave a small smile when the boy looked surprised.

"Umbreon, dodge it with quick attack!" The dark Pokémon darted around, making it difficult for Espeon to lock onto it. Still, the pink Pokémon managed to hit it before it was able to ram itself into her. "Umbreon!" Cassius called out to his Pokémon, who was slightly dazed by the attack, but shook it off even though the attack was very effective on it. Nate knew it was a smart move to teach Espeon the bug type attack. "Umbreon, faint attack!" The boy called and Espeon was slammed by the attack, unable to avoid it.

The two Pokémon fought back and forth as the trainers continuously tried to win the battle. Unfortunately, a few attacks that missed their target hit a tree, awakening a Koffing. The Pokémon was not happy to be awake and soon smog filled the area.

Nate coughed and tried to see through it, looking for her Espeon. "R-Return!" She said and held out her pokeball. The red light came out and back into the pokeball and she returned it to her pockets.

"Let's go." Tabitha said and grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her out of the smog and towards the group of grunts that had gathered when they heard the fight going on. "Did you get anything?"

"Some. The shrine was pretty grown over with vines and such and Team Aqua was there, so it was hard to get much." A grunt informed him.

"Still better than nothing." He said as they made their way out of the forest and back towards Mt. Chimney.

Nate was dropped off at her house and climbed into her window before putting the screen back in. She barely was able to take her uniform off and hide it before she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up and stretched before stopping and looking around her room. "Espeon?" She asked, wondering why her psychic type Pokémon hadn't released itself from her pokeball and gotten in bed with its trainer like it did every night. Her door was still shut, so she couldn't have gotten out of her room. Nate reached over to her nightstand and grabbed Espeon's pokeball. "You okay girl?" She asked and threw the pokeball. It opened and a bright light appeared but quickly went back into the pokeball. No Espeon.

"Espeon?!" Nate grabbed the ball again, repeating the same process, but still not Espeon, which meant that Espeon hadn't gotten back into her pokeball last night and was still in the forest…or worst.

That damn Aqua grunt had her!


	5. Chapter 6

"Umbreon!" Cassius called, not being able to see in the pitch blackness with smog everywhere. He heard his pokemon yell for him and he reached down, grabbing onto something that felt like his pokemon, and followed Shelly down the hill. "C'mon Umbreon, stop struggling!" Cassius said to the pokemon in his arms. The members of the team met at the bottom of the hill and they boarded the aircraft.

Cassius was so tired and he just wanted to go to bed. "Umbreon, you ready for bed?" He asked and looked down in his lap to see a pink pokemon glaring at him. "W-What?!"

"Espeon!" It said in annoyance, ready to attack everyone on board.

"Umbr!" Umbreon hurried over and Cassius sighed with relief. Yes, he had the magma girl's pokemon, but at least he still had his Umbreon. The two pokemon argued back and forth for a while and it ended with Espeon turning her head away, more annoyed now.

"How did you grab the wrong pokemon?" Shelly asked. "Never mind that, this is great! We can use her pokemon as bait! She'll come running when she sees that we have her precise pokemon!"

Cassius wasn't so sure about this. He didn't like Team Magma and he didn't like the girl, Nate, all that much, but using her pokemon as bait seemed wrong to him. He wasn't so sure what to do, so he remained quiet the whole ride back to the beach. As they landed, Espeon readied herself to jump off of Cassius' lap, which was surprising that she even stayed in his lap, and run off of the aircraft as soon as the doors opened. Unfortunately for her, Cassius picked her up and kept a firm hold of her. "I'll take her with me." He told Shelly and the others. "I think she'd rather be with my Umbreon."

That was probably a lie, because as Cassius walked home, Espeon and Umbreon argued back and forth. Mostly it was Espeon starting it and egging Umbreon on. The two wouldn't stop, even as Cassius unlocked his door and set Espeon on the ground in the living room. Umbreon hurried in after them before Cassius shut the door on him.

The two pokemon stared at Cassius and he stared back, unsure what to do. "Well, Espeon, uh, I would like it if you didn't destroy my house while I slept and if you just, you know, stayed here." He explained. "I'll return you to your owner soon, okay? I seriously didn't mean to grab you. I thought you were Umbreon." Espeon, offending back his last statement, turned her head in slight disgust, but nodded her head, understanding what he had told her.

He left the two and trotted up the stairs with the last of his energy before falling onto his bed and falling asleep.

He rolled out of bed, still tired, but decided to head downstairs and make sure the two Pokémon hadn't destroyed his house. Relief hit him when he entered the kitchen and saw the two patiently waiting for him, wanting food.

"Oh.." He mumbled when he reached for Umbreon's food. Could Espeon eat this food? He figured it was okay, but, he wasn't an expert on Espeons or other eevee-evolutions. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number quickly. It rang a few times before someone picked up.

"Cas?" A girl yawned into the phone.

"Yeah, Aura, sorry if I woke you up, but I have a question about this Espeon." He told the girl. She wasn't exactly an expert on Eevees and its evolutions, but she had a Vaporeon and a Glaceon, plus another Eevee, so the girl had to know something. "Is it okay if I fed the Espeon Umbreon's food?"

"It's not specifically for dark types, right?" She asked.

"It's not for dark types. I'm not sure what she's used to being fed and I don't want to make her sick. Last thing I need is that Magma grunt trying to kill me because I got her Pokémon sick."

"It should be alright if it's not dark type food. Espeons can be a little picky though, so you might not get her to eat it." She explained. "A few days of her not eating her normal food shouldn't make her sick, so don't worry about it."

"Good. Thanks for the help; I'll see you at work." They both said their goodbyes and hung up, leaving Cas with the two Pokémon again. He set down two bowls with food in it and watched his Umbreon dig in happily. Espeon, however, sniffed it then looked back to him. "Look, that's all I have. You either eat that, or don't eat." The Espeon glared at him, but decided that eating the food would be much better than going without it, and started to eat it slowly, much unlike Umbreon, who was almost done with his food and trying to steal some of Espeon's.

"Umbreon, don't take her food." He grumbled as the two snapped at each other before returning to their own bowls.

It was barely even a day with Espeon and he was already wishing that he could give her back to her owner. She and Umbreon would randomly start to argue, then settle down and be peaceful, and then start to argue again, plus, he didn't have her Pokéball, so he had to carry her to the base, which was horrible because he was unaware that she did not like water, so she tried to claw him to death while they rode to the base.

Once he arrived, Aura hurried over with a smile on her face. "Hey cutiepie!" She cooed. Cas thought she was talking to him until she reached to pet Espeon, who was in Cas' arms. "She doesn't look sick, so good job on feeding her."

"Thanks. Feeding her was the easy part. Getting her into the base was way harder. I didn't realize that she hated water." He complained.

"Ah, well, she belongs to a Magma grunt, what do you expect?" She asked and scratched Espeon's chin, pleasing the pink Pokémon. "You can tell how well she's taken care of by looking at her coat. See how shiny it is? Someone takes great care of her. I wonder what moves she knows."

"Some bug move and psychic moves." Cassius said, trying to recall some of the moves her trainer had ordered her to do. "She's tough." Espeon shot him a look that said '_Of course I'm tough' _and then returned her attention to Aura, who was still scratching her. "She's got an attitude."

"That's normal for Espeons. They're a little prissier than the other eevee evolutions. It's totally normal though and they're still sweet non-the-less. It really depends on whoever raises it."

"Well the girl that raised this one has an attitude problem." He thought of Nate and how serious and annoyed she always looked when they met. Espeon yipped at him, not liking how he talked about her trainer. "Chill out, what do you expect me to say about her?" He asked the Pokémon, who lowered her ears at him. "Fine, get mad, but I'm the one that's trying to return you back to her as soon as possible. "

"Doesn't Shelly want to use her as bait?" Aura asked and stopped scratching Espeon.

"Yeah, but I don't see how that's going to work out. I kind of just want to give her back, not use her as bait." Cassius muttered, wondering if Nate was freaking out over losing her precious Espeon and put himself in her place. What if he had lost Umbreon to Team Magma? Wouldn't he hope that someone would be king enough to return him without any strings attached? However, he doubted that would happen with them, so Nate must know that getting her Pokémon back wasn't going to be that simple.

"Maybe it will, maybe it won't." Aura said and shrugged. The two started to walk down a corridor, waiting for Shelly to come over the intercom and call their group together for a mission. "Just do as Shelly says, okay? I heard that she gave you a little promotion." Aura told him. "You don't want to make her regret it, do you?"

"No, not really." Cassius thought and shrugged. It's not like he wanted the job in the first place, but it was given to him and he had to do it. "I don't want Shelly mad at me either."

"So whatever job she gives you, you have to do. " Aura reminded him. At that moment, Shelly's voice came on the intercom calling them to a certain room. They hurried down the hall and into the room, where other grunts were piling in.

"Cas, c'mere." Shelly called him towards the front where a small cage was. "Put Espeon in here." She pushed it towards him and he opened the door on it. Of course, Espeon didn't want to go in the cage, so he wasn't able to easily slip her into it. He had to get Shelly to hold the door open and two other grunts to make sure she didn't escape as he forced her into it. After a few minutes, they finally locked her in it.

"Now that that's over with," She sighed and straightened her bandana, "as you all know, our run in with Team Magma was cut short last night. We were able to collect some information, but not much when that Pokémon decided to attack us with smog. Cassius here somehow added up grabbing the wrong Pokémon, and now we have an Espeon, a Team Magma grunt's, more specifically Commander Tabitha's right hand grunt's, Pokémon.

"What does that mean?" A grunt asked.

"That means we can easily capture her and get her to spill the beans on their headquarter location and their missions that they're planning to go on. " Shelly explained. Cassius wasn't so sure this plan would work. He doubted that Nate would give them information so easily. "I'm not saying this is going to be easy, but it should work. I was thinking of just cornering and out numbering her, but that pesky commander might be there with her, meaning you guys need to be on you're A game. If we get both of them, Archie will be very pleased."

Cassius was a little confused with the plan. For one, Nate and Tabitha were almost always together, secondly, they could easily take out the grunts' Pokémon, thirdly, how would they 'capture' them? Throw a net over her? Trap her in a hole?

"Don't make such a confused face." Shelly told Cassius, seeing the confusion and doubt about her plan all over his face. "Team Magma always shows up wherever we are, so finding her will not be a problem. We all need to be on high alert and I'll set out a team that will go and surround her. I suppose that I could distract that commander of theirs, so he shouldn't be an issue."

"What if they're not at the place we're going to?" Cassius asked, still unsure of this plan.

"Don't worry, they will be. I caught wind of their plans early this morning." Shelly told him with a smile.

"How?" He asked, completely confused.

"Don't worry about it; just make sure Espeon here is ready to be bait!"

**So sorry for the long wait! I totally just went blank after all this school work was dumped on me, but I'm back! Aura is not my character! You can still submit yours if you want! **


	6. Chapter 7

Nate was growing impatient very quickly. She didn't want to go on this mission; she wanted to get her Espeon back. Now.

"Natalie." Tabitha said, warning her to stop groaning and sighing. "We will get your Espeon back."

"Not soon enough." She said back sharply. Couldn't they let her go off on her own to find Team Aqua and kick their asses? "Sir, who knows what they're doing to my precious Espeon." She fiddled with her hood and tried to remain calm. Being snarky was no way to treat her commander.

"Someone's a little snarky today." A grunt with black bangs covering one of her eyes sang out with a small smirk on her face.

"Shut it, how would you feel if I took one of your Pokémon?" Nate called back, not in the mood for the devious grunt.

"You'd have to fight me to get it."

"That wouldn't be too hard."

"Quiet!" Tabitha ordered, silencing the females. "Nate, you know better than to act like that, and Rachel, you know not to egg her on. You would be feeling the same way if someone took your Pokémon." Nate made a face at Rachel, showing that she had won the argument and the girl pouted and stuck her tongue out at Nate. "Espeon is fine."

"How do you know? Those guys are horrible!" Nate tried to keep her cool, but she was losing it, again.

"Espeon can take care of herself." Tabitha rubbed his temples and climbed over a rock, leading his team through the rocky area. "If you don't think clearly, you won't be able to get her back."

"Yes sir." Nate folded her arms across her chest, but didn't speak anymore. She knew she was pushing Tabitha's buttons, but he knew more than anyone how much she adored her Espeon and her other Pokémon and what she would do to protect them. What was she suppose to do? Her Espeon was possibly being tortured by the wicked Aqua members!

The group trudged along over the uneven ground, trying to get to a cave that held information about how Groudon and Kyogre fell into their deep slumber.

"Commander." A voice said from above and the hooded group looked up to see Shelly perched on a rock with Aqua grunts around her. "Took you long enough to get here."

"So you were expecting us? Not too surprising, since you usually come to crash our missions." Tabitha responded coolly. "I think you have something that belongs to one of my team members."

"Oh? Do we?" She asked and looked at the members of her team. "Oh yes! That cute little Espeon! Well, we weren't the ones who left it behind in the woods, now were we?"

Nate wanted to leap up and tackle the redhead. How dare she say that Nate had left her! "Give her back!" Nate growled, her patience already shot.

"I don't have her." Shelly said with a wave and glanced at Cassius, who held the Pokémon cage. She nodded at him and he took off running to the left of the group.

"Nate, do-" Tabitha started but it was too late, the girl was already rushing after the aqua grunt as fast as she could. "NATE!" He yelled after her, knowing it had to be some trap. Nate knew it too, but she didn't care at the moment. She heard her Espeon call out for her and she was going to save her. She could get out of any trap they had planned for her anyway.

"Ah-ah-ah~" Shelly shook her head at Tabitha and his group. "Don't go running after her just yet." She called out her Pokémon and the other Aqua members did the same.

"Let's go!" Rachel said and called out her Pokémon. "Don't worry sir, we can have them beat in 5 seconds flat and catch up to Nate before she gets too far!" The girl smiled with anticipation. "Nate can take care of herself anyway."

And she could! Nate was having no problem catching up to the boy. She was used to running across uneven surfaces and could tell that he wasn't, seeing as he almost slipped a few times. "You better stop running! You're hurting my Pokémon!" She ordered, but of course, Cas kept going.

"I am not!" Cas called back, starting to run out of breath. He couldn't keep running on the rocks like this, it was hurting his feet. At last, he made it towards the end of his run where other Aqua grunts were, ready to surround the Magma grunt. Nate smiled as she saw Cassius hit a dead end and was ready to pounce when she heard people call out Pokémon from behind her.

"Dammit." She cursed looking at the sealos and zubats that were ready to attack her.

"Now, if you don't mind, surrender." Cassius panted, smiling a bit as he saw the wariness on the girl's face.

"I don't think so." She reached for her pokeballs, ready to fight. "Commander, I'm outnumbered here, so it will take me a little while to get back to you." She said into her headset.

"I'll send some backup for you, don't do anything reckless, not that you haven't already..." He grumbled the last part, obviously not impressed by her show of loyalty towards her Espeon.

"I've got this sir." She smiled at the Pokémon and gripped the pokeball in her hand tightly. "So, when do I get my Espeon back? When I beat them or when I beat you?" She turned towards Cassius, who had regained his normal breathing pattern.

"I don't think you'll be able to do all that now." Cassius told her and Espeon yipped at the both of them.

"Houndoom!" Nate said, calling out the canine Pokémon. It snarled, showing its teeth towards the Pokémon, before leaping into battle with them.

"Don't start without us!" Rachel called, running towards the group with a few other grunts behind her. Just before reaching them, the ground started to shake and crumble. "Earthquake!" She yelled and everyone tried to hang onto the ground the best they could. Cassius stumbled around, but kept a firm hold on the cage, not wanting it to fall and injury the pink Pokémon stuck inside it. The ground underneath his feet started to fall through and he ran towards Nate, trying to avoid falling into the hole that was slowly forming.

The grounded caved in more rapidly and Cassius knew he was done for when the ground beneath his feet disappeared. He yelled and heard a girl scream and others yell as he fell through the hole. He opened the door to Espeon's cage and yanked her out as they both hit the water. He held on tightly to the Pokémon with one arm and used the other to pull themselves up towards the surface of the water. He heard another splash as he burst out of the water and reached his arms out to grab something solid.

Nate struggled in the water, trying to figure out which way was up before she ran out of breath. She saw splashing and went towards it, finding the surface of the water and air filled her lungs once more. She pulled herself up onto the rocky land and collapsed, panting and coughing. She hadn't expected to fall into the sink hole and looked up at the ceiling, which had a huge circular hole now because of the earthquake.

"Espeon!" The Pokémon cried and jumped onto her trainer, startling her.

"Espeon!" She said back and sat up, hugging the wet Pokémon. "Are you okay? How'd you get out of the cage?"

"I let her out, of course." Cassius said, ringing his bandana out. "I couldn't let her drown." He shook his head, trying to get the water out of his hair. "I might be part of Team Aqua, but I don't hate you enough to let your Pokémon die."

Nate looked at him and Espeon jumped off her trainer and shook herself, attempting to get herself as dry as she possibly could. "Thanks." Nate muttered, standing up and taking her hood off and rung it out as best she could. "I still don't like you for stealing my Pokémon."

"I didn't steal her, promise. I thought she was my Umbreon." Cassius held up both his hands and put his bandana in his pocket. "And I know we're on different teams, but, we're stuck together at the moment." He told her and glanced up at the hole in the ceiling and looked around the cave. "I have no clue how to get out of here."

"There's a way out." Nate said and put her hoodie over her shoulder and shook her hair. "This way." She headed off in one direction. Her Espeon trotted after her and Cassius went after them. "I saw an opening for a cave on our way here; I think it's the exit." She told him over her shoulder, not actually sure if this was the right way or not. She was drenched, tired, and stuck with an annoying Aqua Grunt, so her sense of direction could be off.

"Shouldn't we wait for them to send down help?" Cassius asked.

"That could take ages. Neither side has Pokémon with them that could fly down and retrieve us." Nate explained. "Besides, who knows what it looks like up there?" She asked and then looked around. "M-My Houndoom!" She stuttered. "Did he fall? What happened to him?"

"I don't think he did, he was with those Aqua grunts. I'm sure he's fine." Cassius tried to calm the girl down. She turned into such a worrier when her Pokémon were on the line, all her sense seemed to fly out the window. He couldn't blame her of course, he would be worried too, but he was used to seeing a cold girl with a hood, not a worried girl that was drenched.

"Hmm." Nate mumbled, thinking about it. "Espeon, return." The bright red light engulfed her Pokémon and it vanished into her pokeball. "She needs a rest." Nate said simply and said nothing else. Cassius sped up and walked beside her instead of behind her. The two walked in silence for a while, Cassius not knowing what to say and Nate not in the mood to talk. She was stuck with the enemy and she had to be on her toes. She needed to get out and back to base as quickly as possible without having anyone see her.

"Doesn't that hood get hot?" Cassius asked unexpectedly.

"Excuse me?" She asked with an exasperated look. "No, they prevent us from having our faces shown towards the enemies."

"But, I can see you now."

"That's because I am not wearing my hood top. It's soaking wet and I'd rather be dry that have my face hidden in a cave in which myself and a lowly Aqua grunt are the only ones present." She said bluntly.

"Woah, no need to get like that." Cassius said. "Just trying to make some friendly conversation. We'll be stuck with each other for at least a few hours, so might as well try to be on good terms."

"I doubt that I neither need nor want to be on friendly terms with you."

"Oh come on, you know you want to be on friendly terms with me. Just look at me!" He grinned and she stared at him.

* * *

"Where is she?" Tabitha asked, running up to the mixture of Aqua and Magma grunts.

"She fell in!" Rachel said and waved her arms in the air dramatically. "She was battling and then the earth shook and she and that Aqua dude fell in! The earth ate them." Nate's Houndoom trotted up to them and Rachel pet him sadly. "I know buddy, she just disappeared, didn't she?"

"Where is Cassius?" Aura asked as Shelly joined the group. "Did…did he fall in too?"

"Yup." Rachel nodded her head. "I was going to go check on them, but the ground is still unstable and aftershocks are still occurring." Just as she said this, the ground started to shake again, not as harshly as it had before though. It only lasted a few seconds before fading away.

"Her radio is dead." Tabitha grumbled as he tried to contact her.

"I think there's an underwater cavern or something like that down there. I heard splashing after the earthquake subsided." Aura explained. Shelly and Tabitha glared at each other, both blaming one another for the lost of their right hand grunt. "There are many ways out down there I believe, so they should be okay." Aura mumbled trying to ease the tension as another aftershock shook the ground.

"Sir, I think we should get out before another earthquake hits. Nate can take care of herself." Rachel told him and he nodded. He didn't want to leave her like this, but he knew she could take care of herself.

"Let's get out of here." He announced to his team. He gave a final glare towards Shelly before they took off.

* * *

Aura & Rachel don't belong to me~ I'm still taking Apps be the way. I could use a few more trainers for the next few chapters. Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	7. Chapter 8

Cassius was starting to get tired. He hadn't slept enough the night before, the whole 'falling into a cavern' thing took some of his energy, and trudging through the cavern in his soaking wet clothes was taking the last of it from him.

"Can't we rest?" He asked Nate, who seemed just as tired as he was.

"No, if we stop now, we won't want to start again. I don't want to be in this cave any longer than I have to be. We're almost towards the end."

"How can you even tell?" He questioned. He felt like they had be walking in circles for hours, but he wasn't going to say anything that would force her to slam his head into the rocky walls.

"Feel the breeze?" She asked and he shrugged. "Well, I feel it, and I smell it too. That means there's an opening big enough for it to come through and that means a way out." She explained like it was the simplest thing on the Earth.

"Look, I get breezes and such, I sail boats and practically live on the oceans. I'm not stupid." Cassius said bluntly, tired of her looking down on him.

"I never called you stupid." Nate said. "I don't like Team Aqua, so naturally, I won't be nice to you, if that's what you're getting at."

"Why? I've told you this before! We'll be stuck with each other for a while, so why can't you just over look the fact that I'm Team Aqua?"

"Because!" Nate stopped in her tracks and glared at him. "Team Aqua is horrible and vicious! I hate them and since you're a part of them, I hate you as well. I cannot over look the fact that you belong to them." She continued to walk, more like stomped, and Cassius had to jog to catch up with her.

"It's not like I'm the biggest fan of Team Magma, but I'm not going to hate you while we're stuck together. Whatever reason you have for hating us, other than being part of our opposing team, can just be pushed aside for now." Cassius reasoned, grabbing onto her shoulder. "Or I will get more annoying, I know, sounds impossible, but I can do it."

Nate glared at him and shrugged his hand off of her shoulder. "Fine." Cassius smiled when he heard this and caught up to her again.

"That's great! So, where are you from?"

"I don't like to give my information out to my enemies."

"Nate, come on now…" Cassius elbowed her slightly and beamed at her. "We're friends now. I'm from Slateport City. My grandpa used to work in the shipyard until he was transferred to Lilycove."

"Interesting."

"Now you tell me something about yourself!" Cassius told her, trying to explain the game to her.

"I'm from Mauville City." Nate said simply.

"Really? Pretty cool, I've always wanted to go there. Do you surf? Heh, probably not. I love to though!" Cassius rambled. Nate just nodded her head and let him continue. The more he talked, the less she had to. They both stopped when they saw light from an opening ahead of them. "That the way out?" Cassius asked and then ran towards it quickly. Nate hurried after them and they were both embraced by the sunlight as they stepped out of the cave. It hurt their eyes, but they soon adjusted to it.

"Hm." Nate mumbled and searched the area, making sure there weren't any Aqua Grunts that were ready to ambush her. "Seems clear."

"Of course it's clear, we aren't planning an attack." Cassius said with a look in Nate's direction. "They don't even know where we are."

"I don't know that for sure." Nate glowered at him, still not trusting him. "You could have communicated with them somehow without my noticing."

"How? My radio died the second I hit the water." Cassius explained and showed her his drenched radio.

"Hello?" A female voiced asked and a girl with sandy blonde hair in a messy ponytailed peeked through the forest trees. "Did you two fall into a river or something?"

"Uh, yeah, we slipped." Cassius lied and eyed Nate from the corner of his eyes. He nodded his head and she did too, seeming to understand what he was doing.

"Yeah, do you know where we are by any chance? We got caught up in that earthquake and slipped into that river in the cave. All of our communication devices are shot as well." Nate went along with the lie.

"Oh! Of course! Are you two okay?" She asked and hurried up to them. "The Pokémon center is this way! You're in Fallarbor town at the moment." She explained. "Oh, and my name is Lily! Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too! I'm Cas and this is Nate!" Cassius introduced themselves and Nate didn't seem pleased that he gave away their real names as they followed Lily across a bridge and onto a dirt path that led into the town.

"Nice to meet you two, too." She smiled back at Cas. "That was a horrible earthquake, it's lucky that you two weren't hurt. What were you two doing in that cave anyway?"

"Just exploring." Cassius shrugged. "We didn't have anything else to do, so we decided it would be cool to check out the cave."

"You picked a horrible day to do that." Lily told him as they approached the Pokémon center. "Here we are! You guys can take a break and dry yourselves off properly so you won't get sick."

"Thanks a lot, we owe you one." Cassius gave her another smile, and she smiled back before they parted ways. Nate rolled her eyes and walked into the Pokémon Center to heal her Pokémon and try to call someone on the video phone.

"What do you mean the phones are down?" Nate asked through her teeth, ready to pounce on Nurse Joy.

"Sorry miss, but that earthquake knocked down a few power lines and took them out." She explained. "And our backup generators don't cover the phones or video phones."

"So we can't call anyone now?"

"No, but they'll be up again soon." She reassured her and took her Pokémon to get healed.

"This is unbelievable." Nate growled to Cassius. "I'm stuck in this town of all places and stuck here with you!"

"Tell me how you really feel." Cassius said sarcastically, but then grinned at her. "Cheer up; we could learn a lot from this. Didn't we discuss this back in the cave? Let's try to get along."

"It was barely a discussion and you talked the entire time." Nate told him and waited for Nurse Joy to bring back her Pokémon. "Besides, we don't have time for that. We need to get back to our teams."

"Relax, seriously. Why are you so wor- Cassius stopped himself. "I know why. You like your commander, right?"

"W-What?!" Nate's face turned as red as her hoodie, that was now dry and slung over her shoulder. "N-No! Who told you that?"

"Pretty sure my commander did." He thought about it for a few moments. "Yeah, probably her. You seem extremely loyal to him, that's why she said it."

"Of course I'm loyal, he's my leader." Nate ended the conversation with that and mulled over it and tried to hide her embarrassment. Cassius watched her and smirked, knowing he hit the nail on the head. "I don't view him in that way. I just respect him highly." She told him after she was able to get her face back to its normal color. "What's taking so long? I want to get out of here."

"Leave? Already? We just got here." Cas asked, surprised. "Don't you wanna rest or something?"

"Rest? No. I want to get home and back into normal clothes again and get back to my job." Nate was tired, really tired, but if she stopped now she wouldn't want to start again. "I need to let my father know I'm okay."

"Well, that's a good reason to keep going, but Nurse Joy said the power lines will be fixed soon."

"I don't know his number by heart." Nate told him.

"You should know it."

"I never have to call him. We work together." Nate explained.

"You told me something about yourself without me having to pry it out of you? Congrats." Cassius remarked. "So, what's his job?"

"He's a scientist. One of the top scientists, that's why I need to get back. If he found out I went MIA, he'd raise hell, which, in the end, would not be good for my commander, even though it was my fault because I disobeyed orders, and he would get all the blame."

"So you're just looking out for him?"

"Of course. He's been great to me for many years and he doesn't deserve to get punished for my actions." Nate explained.

"Oh, okay, understood. I just thought you wanted to go back to work to actually work, but, now that I know that you're completely in love with your commander, it all makes sense."

"J-Just, shut up!" Nate flushed and wanted to punch Cassius, however Nurse Joy showed up at that exact moment, a little fright in her voice.

"Nate? Your Pokémon all healed and ready to go." She said and handed the try over. Nate snatched the two pokeballs from the tray and stuffed them onto her belt.

"Thank you very much Nurse Joy." She forced out and stormed off. Cassius smiled at Nurse Joy before rushing after her. "We're leaving, now."

"We're? Oh, so we're like a team now?" Cassius asked the girl and followed her out of the Pokémon center.

"We're traveling companions for the time being. I highly doubt you know how to get down to Mauville City from here and you'll get lost if you try to go by yourself." Nate led him out of the city and into the grass as ash began to fall from the sky. He sneezed and reached to pull out his bandana to put it on his head to prevent the ash from getting in his hair, but Nate grabbed his arm to stop him. "Trainers are scattered all around here. The second they see your bandana, we're toast. Last thing we need are the police on our trail."

"But my hair…" Cassius mumbled.

"No. You already look like an aqua grunt, putting a bandana on will just complete the look. That's why I'm not putting on my hood." Nate talked him out of it and he slipped the bandana back into his pocket with a pout.


	8. Chapter 9

It was starting to grow dark as Cassius and Natalie trudged through the ash filled grass. "I cannot believe this." Nate complained, glaring at the man that was walking beside the two.

"I'm sorry miss, but we couldn't let you two pass. " The police officer said. "We had a spotting of Team Magma and Aqua around that area earlier today and we don't need any innocent people getting attacked by them."

"I really wanted to go to that costume party…" Cassius grumbled, eyeing Nate as he said this. After being questioned by the police, the two somehow managed to convince them that they were on their way to a friend's costume party. Cassius was dressed up as a pirate and Nate was dressed up as a Houndoom. They claimed that the rest of their costumes were already at the friend's house so they wouldn't get ash all over them. Besides, why would they want to walk around in full costume? That's embarrassing.

"I'm sorry about that, sir." The police officer said and looked Cas over. Ian wasn't exactly buying the costume party story. The two were dressed like members of Team Aqua and Magma; he just didn't understand why they were in this area, or why they were together.

"Sir? You don't have to call me that you know." Cassius told him and smiled at him, hoping to ease the police officer. He wasn't on edge, but Cassius could tell that something was off about him. "Ian, right?"

"Yes." Ian said, not wanting to be on first name basis with the two possible criminals. He wasn't even sure if the names they had given him were their real names! "Cassius, right?"

"Yup!" Cas said and Nate sighed. When asked for their names, Cassius spoke up before Nate could open her mouth and dumbly gave them their real names. He explained later that if he used their real names, he wouldn't forget them. Plus, Ian was built and looked like he could kick their asses. Cas rather not have Ian against him in a fight. "We'll call our friend once we get back to the Pokémon center, right Natalie?"

"Right, that is, if the phone lines are up and working." She wanted to turn and punch the blond male, but that would probably raise suspicion with the police officer in-between them. "And they better be."

"Relax. We have to stay the night there anyway, so if they're not working when we get back, they should be in the morning." Cassius didn't want Nate to lose it and spill any information about them.

"I'm sure the phone lines are up and working or will be soon." Ian really didn't want a mad magma grunt blowing steam in his direction. The last thing he wanted was a growling Houndoom in his face, though it looked like he already had one.

"You just need to get some sleep." Cassius told her. They had been moving non-stop since early that morning and he doubted that she had had anything to eat all day. "And something to eat, you're getting cranky."

"I am not." Nate growled at him and sneezed because of the ash from the sky.

"Bless you." Ian told her and she rubbed her nose and nodded in his direction. "The Pokémon center is just up ahead. You two will be able to take a long break and get some rest."

"That's just what we need too." Cassius' feet felt like cement blocks. He wanted to lie down and sleep for ages and eat tons of food and then sleep again. He also wanted a shower and clean clothes, but sleep and food would have to come first. They approached the Pokémon center and Cas forced out a smile with the last of his energy. He couldn't even believe that he had been able to keep some a positive attitude and not grumble like Nate had. "Thanks for escorting us here, good to know the police are actually doing a good job."

"No need to thank me, I'm glad I could help you two. I hope you're able to call your friend soon. Goodnight you two." Ian bid them farewell and headed back towards his posts where the other officers were. He would have to make sure to come back and question Nurse Joy about the criminal pair when he was heading home later.

"Finally, rest." Cassius sighed happily as they walked into the Pokémon center. His stomach grumbled and he put his hand on it. "Food. Need it."

"We need money for that." Nate said and eyed the ATM computer over in the corner. A boy in a fancy suit was at it and an idea popped into her head. "I've got it covered, just wait here." She ordered him and went to wait in line at the machine. It was simple to use. Insert a card or a code in, your account pops up, to deposit or withdraw money, then you take your card or logout. You don't logout? Well, anyone can waltz up and take your money, however, after 5 minutes of no one touching the machine it will automatically log you out.

Nate did have money in an account, and she did have a Team Magma account that had a few hundred in it in case of emergencies such as this one, however, she didn't feel like using her money to pay for her and Cassius' meal and room. The rich boy took a few bills from the machine and walked towards the main desk. Nate looked at screen and smiled. Exactly as she thought, he didn't log out. The rich boys never did because money meant nothing to them. She pulled up his account and checked the total.

"Woah." She muttered. Why did the boy need that much money? She didn't question it too much and decided to hurry up before the boy came back after realizing his mistake. "2,000 should be enough.." She murmured to herself as the bills shot out of the machine. It would actually be more than enough, since Pokémon centers really didn't costs that much, but, whatever. She logged out and headed back towards Cassius, who was obviously staring at a group of girls who were giggling and looking his direction. "Got the cash." She told him and flashed him the bills. "Let's get you food, you're fading on me."

"Food." He said happily and followed Nate towards the cafeteria area. He grabbed almost everything that looked delicious and was done with it in a matter of minutes. "Yummmm." He said contently.

"You're going to get sick." Nate told him and took a bite into her sandwich. Yes, she was starving, but last time she sped through her food, her stomach ached for hours. "You feel better?"

"Way. You? You don't seem to be so hateful." Cassius took a sip of his drink.

"I am not hateful."

"Yes you are."

"I'm paying for your meal and room, right? Not hateful. I'm tired and I was starving and I was being overworked." Nate stuffed food into her mouth to shut herself up.

"Overworked?"

"Yeah." She chewed her food and swallowed. "When I stay with my mother, it's kinda like work. She doesn't know that this is my job. If she found out, she would sell dad out and kill me."

"Oh."

"Yeah. She wants me to be a coordinator, but I don't think I'd be any good at it, and I'm not quitting Magma now, and don't say it's because I like my commander, and even if that was true, I wouldn't stay just for him."

"Then what would you stay for?"

"My dad. I need to make sure he doesn't get overworked and I suppose a little for my commander, that's it. "Nate admitted and finished her food and piled the plates in the center of the table for a worker to clean up later. "Lets go." She headed over to the main desk to get a room and key and trotted to the elevator and punched in their floor number.

"I'm tired." Cassius leaned on her. Since she had food in her, she was able to resist pushing him off of her, but he was starting to push it. "Nateeeeeeeeeee….."

"Cas, I will leave you here." She threatened, but pulled him towards their room. She couldn't believe she was doing this. Just a few hours ago, she was telling him that she hated his guts, but now, she was pulling him into their room so he could get some sleep. She was getting soft. "Here's your bed." She guided him towards the bottom bunk and he climbed onto the bed happily.

"I need a shower." He grumbled and she pushed him back onto the bed.

"Ash won't kill you, its fine." She should know since she was use to smelling like it. "Shower in the morning." She ordered him and he laid down. She tossed her Magma hoodie onto the desk in the room and headed into the bathroom after kicking off her shoes and arm and leg warmers. Yeah, ash wouldn't kill you, but she wasn't about to sleep with it all over her, along with sweat and dirt.

When she got out of the shower and grabbed a robe that was on the back of the bathroom door, it was almost midnight. She headed towards the bunks, almost tripping over Cas' shirt that he had tossed aside. She started to climb the ladder towards the top bunk before pausing and looking at Cas. He was sprawled out on the bed, laying on his back and completely knocked out. She rolled her eyes and continued the climb until she was lying on the soft bed and falling asleep.

* * *

Ian headed into the Pokémon center around 3am. He had just gotten off duty and besides needing to spend the night at the Pokémon center, he needed to check up on Nate and Cas. "Hey." He greeted the person behind the counter. "Is it too late to get a room?"

"Of course not!" The girl said happily. "Sorry, Nurse Joy was a bit tired after the earthquake drama and I told her she needed to get to bed."

"That's fine, I understand completely." He smiled back at her and the girl's cheeks turned bright pink. "Were you down here earlier? I walked an odd pair to the center earlier and I wanted to know if they're still here. A girl with a sour look on her face in a small black dress and a boy with blond hair with a brown streak in it? Kinda dressed up like a pirate?"

The girl thought a moment before nodding. "Yes, Cas and Nate, right?"

"That's them. Are they still here?"

"Yup, they checked in a few hours ago. That Cas boy sure can eat! He was seriously hungry. Do you want me to leave a note for them or something?"

"Ah, no, but when you see them down here tomorrow, could you call my room please?" He asked and the girl wrote the memo down on a note pad.

"Of course! You can count on me! Here's your room key, so go get some sleep, you look like you need it." The girl said with a final smile and Ian headed up towards his room. He was going to catch those two whether they liked it or not.

* * *

**Thanks to the people who sent in characters! I'm still taking some in case you wanted to submit yours. If yours hasn't appeared yet, don't worry, they will eventually. I wanna make sure they come in at the right moment and not some random time. Sorry if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes, I tried to proof read it before I posted it. Reviews make me wanna write the next chapter faster. Just saying.  
**


	9. Chapter 10

**Sorry that's it taking me so long to type out chapters. I'm been swamped lately at school and have tons of tests, projects, and yearbook things thrown at me lately, so it's been hard to open up Word and type a chapter, but I'm getting a move on with it!**

* * *

Cassius jumped awake and nearly hit his head on the top bunk. He leaned back on his arms and looked around for a few moments, trying to remember where he was and all of yesterday's events. It was such an extremely long day and he was afraid of what today held. He heard the door to the room open so he swiftly curled up under the covers to avoid having to leave the bed.

"Cas, I heard you move around." He heard Nate said from outside the blanket, but he stayed underneath it and shook his head. "Cas."

"I'm asleep." Cas smirked and felt something hit him. He sat up, slowly this time to avoid hitting his head, and pulled the covers down to see what she had thrown at him. "You washed my shirt? Thanks!" He smiled and put it on, enjoying the lavender smell that came from it.

"I wasn't going to walk around in dirty clothes." Nate said with a disgusted look. Her hoodie was in her arms and folded neatly, despite the fact that it would probably be on her shoulder and wrinkly in a few hours. "Now get up, we need to get a move on."

"What? Seriously? I'm still drained from yesterday!" Cassius whined.

"I can't stick around here all day Cas. Those cops we saw last night are probably here resting and we need to leave before they all wake up and over run the lobby." Nate explained and tugged Cassius out of bed. She grabbed her pokeballs and his. "So lets go." She told her and tossed them towards him. He caught them easily and hooked them onto his pants and followed her out the door.

"I didn't even get to shower…" He pouted and Nate pretended to ignore him. Since she didn't allowed him time to shower, Nate gave him an extra few minutes to chow down and stuff his face with pancakes, though she knew she'd regret it later when he was complaining about stomach cramps.

"Leaving already?" The girl that worked the counter the night before asked as she passed by their table. She was getting breakfast before heading off to bed so she would be rested for tonight's shift. "You just got here."

"We need to get to Mauville City soon." Cassius told her with a smile, happy now that he had food in him. Nate kicked him from underneath the table and sent him a warning look telling him to cut the conversation short. "We're in a hurry."

"Awah, well, I hope to see you two again!" She cheered and grabbed her food before returning to the main desk to finish work. She almost spilt her juice when she remembered she had to call Ian and rushed to dial his number before the pair left. "Good Morning ! I'm calling to let you know that the pair you wanted to keep an eye on is walking out the door. Sorry for calling you late, but, I know that they're heading towards Mauville City, so you can still follow them!"

"Thanks." Ian grumbled, hanging up the phone quickly. He rushed to get dressed and down to the lobby to keep on the pair's trail. He wasn't happy at all that he was contacted late, but, better late than never.

* * *

"Where exactly is my daughter?" A man in a bright white lab coat asked as he sat down across from Maxie's desk in his office. "Tabitha says she's on a secret mission, but, I know that she would never go on one of those without telling me."

"Dr. Paul, your daughter is completely safe." Maxie told him and frowned. This was really not what he needed right now.

"That's not what I asked." Dr. Paul glowered, not afraid of the man behind the desk. He knew he was the best scientist Team Magma had, that's why he was the head of the department, and he wasn't afraid of the leader. "Where is she?"

"There was a slight accident. I'm sending out a search party to look for her, though I assure you that your daughter is perfectly capable of taking care of herself." Maxie explained.

"What?! An accident? When were you going to tell me about this?! Her mother is going to be furious!" Dr. Paul stood up in rage.

"Relax, Dr. Paul. We have the best looking for her right now."

* * *

Haru gave an annoyed look back towards the grunt that he was teamed up with, Rachel. Yes, she could be strong in battle and a fine teammate, but she was quite talkative and caused too much mischief. He wasn't too pleased with the fact that he was sent out with her to find Natalie in the first place. That girl was old enough to take care of herself and besides that, why wasn't Tabitha out looking for her? Nate was under Tabitha's command, not Haru's, so why is he wasting time looking for her?

"You are fuming." Rachel told him, practically feeling the heat radiate off the commander. He swirled around, his cape adding to the affect, and glared at her. "Look, sir, do I look excited to be out here with you? I'd much rather be with Tabitha, but we need to find Nate so Tabitha will stop being in a foul mood and to make sure she's safe." Rachel watched as the commander turned back around and stomped ahead into the desert. The two put on their goggles and trudged through the sandstorm to look for the missing grunt.

* * *

"I think someone is following us." Cassius told Nate as they once again trudged through the ashy grass. Ash still fell from the skies and gave the area a gloomy look. "I think it's that police dude from last night."

"It probably is. He's on to us." Nate refused to look behind her and kept walking.

"Guess my nice guy act didn't work on him." Cassius grumbled and crossed his arms. "I try to be overfriendly so people will trust me, but, guess it doesn't work with police men. Hey, maybe you could charm him so he'll leave us alone?"

"Do what?

"Oh come on Nate. Don't tell me you've never flirted with a guy to get something."

"W-What?" Nate exclaimed. "I've never done that! I work hard for the things I want, and flirting with a guy is no way to get through life. Besides, I highly doubt he'd fall for it."

"You must suck at it."

"Well it's not like I practice it, shut up." Nate silenced him on the subject, too embarrassed to talk about it any longer.

"So, where's that scar on your cheek from?" Cassius asked after a few minutes of silence. He noticed the scar on her left cheek a while ago, but he figured she wouldn't tell him until she got used to him.

"I fell when I was younger." She answered and kept her eyes ahead. "I was pushed and fell."

"Aw, pushed? By who?"

"By members of Team Aqua." She narrowed her eyes and frowned. "They beat me up and pushed me around; I fell and scraped my cheek against a rock or something."

"Oh…" Cassius mumbled now realizing where he had seen this girl from before. She was the one his group was beating up that day. The day he saw how horrible and cruel the team he joined could be. Suddenly he felt slightly panicked. What if she recognized him as one of the grunts who stood by and did nothing? Would she try to attack him?

"That's why I hate your team." Nate turned towards him as she said this then looked ahead again.

"We're not all like that."

"I know you aren't." Nate told him and kicked some ash up from the grass. "Doesn't mean I have to like any of you though. If I decide the person deserves not to be judged by what team they're on, then that means that I like them. That does not happen often though." Nate glanced behind them and locked eyes with Ian for a few seconds.

"You know, when you lock eyes with a trainer, it means you have to battle." Cassius told her.

"I don't follow that rule. We have no time for it anyway." She said and turned back around.

* * *

**Super sorry if this seemed like a filler chapter or something. It's really not; I just go slow with some parts of my story! Hope you all still like my story and I'm sorry for taking so long to update! Also, sorry for such a short chapter. I'm trying to bring in newer characters in slowly so they don't confuse you and leave you wondering who is who.  
**


	10. Chapter 11

Rachel turned her hood inside out to let all of the sand from the desert out of it. It poured from the hood and made a pile on the ground. "Hate that." She muttered as she shook her body to get the rest of the sand out of her uniform. Haru did the same, not wanting to walk around with sand in various places on him. "Why did we come this way anyway? Not like it's much shorter than the other way..."

"Team Aqua is most likely looking for their missing grunt as well and incase they were following us we went through the desert. That will stop them, at least until they find a way around it, and give us a head start." Haru explained and continued on their way to Fallarbor Town. "It's bad enough that we have to waste time doing this, we don't need Team Aqua in our way." He put his hood back on and straightened it out before turning back to the grunt.

"Fine, guess that makes sense." She waved her hand in a fanning motion. "Let's just get a move on." The two hooded criminals headed up the slight incline that would soon led them to the ash covered area of Fallarbor Town.

* * *

"Ai, quicken your pace a little." Aura ordered the brunette girl that was dusting off her pant leg. "It's about to get seriously ashy up here, so there's no point of trying to wipe that dirt off of your pants."

"Alright.." The girl mumbled and followed after the other Aqua Grunt. "Is Cas up here?

"Who knows? You know how Cas can be..." Both girls rolled their eyes and sighed. "But wherever he is, he should be fine!"

"I dunno Aura, that magma grunt he was stuck with can be awfully mean..."

"They're all mean." Aura said. "Speak of the devil." Aura grabbed Ai's arm and pulled her behind a tree just as two red hooded Magma members strode by and hurried off into the ashy grass. "Look like they're here looking for their missing member.."

Ai stared after them quizzically, trying to figure out who the male with the cape was. She tilted her head as she peered at his back. "Haru?"

"Urg! He's the worst commander; of course we'd have to deal with him." Aura complained. "We are definitely not having a lucky day." Ai just looked at her partner. "It's the truth. He's the meanest." The two went after them, careful to keep their distance.

* * *

Cassius quickened his pace and dodged in and out of the trees. Nate solution to getting away from Ian was simple. Run. She was right in front of him and constantly looked behind her to make sure Cassius was still with her. So, she didn't know he was one of the ones that was part of the group that beat her up? Thank Kyogre for that.

Ian was keeping pace with them, but was having a difficult time weaving through the trees. Cassius was starting to get tired and could feel his legs starting to turn to jelly.

"Keep up!" Nate yelled back to him.

"I'm trying! I don't know if you've noticed, but, I've been pushing myself to the limit lately!" He yelled back. He stomach was no empty, his breakfast and dinner from the previous night gone, and his body was begging for more sleep, which he didn't get enough off the night before. He had spent the night tossing and turning and it was too hot or too cold the whole night. "How can you do this?"

"Rest later. Push yourself harder!" Nate ordered, racing past Haru and Rachel. When she noticed who they were, she thought about stopping, but ignored it and kept going. "Cas, you need to keep up now."

"Oh my god were those magma people? Are you serious?" He screamed at her and saw red running after him from the corner of his eyes. "I'M GOING TO DIE."

"Relax!" Nate called back to him and saw the Aqua members that were now also following them. So, now, 2 magma, 2 aqua, and a police officer. Great.

"Nate! We got your back!" Rachel yelled from behind and Cassius wanted to give up.

"Rachel, we're trying to get away from a police officer! I'm hitting the mountain pass!"

"Mountain Path? Got it!" Haru called up to her and the three veered off and jumped over a ledge.

"I suggest the same for you." Nate yelled to Cassius as ran off. "Go right and go fast." She told him and turned tail and ran straight towards the dark cave.

"Mountain path...?!" He asked his teammates who were running after him. They nodded and the trio took a sharp right, throwing off Ian who was now catching up to them, and dived into the cave entrance.

Ian looked towards the cave panted. "Damn.." He cursed, shaking his head. He almost had them! He was too tired to go after them, but he radioed back to his group to report the Magma and Aqua sighting to them. He trudged back to them, wanting to do nothing but sleep for the next few days.

* * *

It was dark, but they kept following the magma trio ahead of them. The six of them made it out and Cassius was ready to collapse.

"Lets go." Haru ordered the two members of his team. Nate gave him an irritated look and turned towards Cassius.

"Here's the rest of the cash." She pulled the bills out of her pokemon and dumped them into his hands. "Go south, through Mauville. Slateport is there and take the ferry. You'll be in Lilycove in no time. She turned towards Haru and pulled her hood back over her head. "Now we can go, Commander." She said sarcastically and headed off into a dark forest. Rachel smirked at the Aqua Trio and her commander before prancing off after Nate. Haru glowered at the group, stopping for a few seconds to watch them carefully before running after his team.

* * *

Nate settled down into her bed at her dad's house. She was so tired. She had to listen to her dad go on and on about how she should listen to her commander's orders when on missions and how she should be more careful and blahhhh. She was barely awake as he spoke. She was happy to see him, but, he could've been more excited to see her. Houndoom was all over her when she got home.

"Nate." A male whispered from outside her window.

"Oh my-" Nate growled and threw off her covers. She stomped to the window and punched out the screen, letting Tabitha into the room. "Tabitha. I. Am. Tired."

"I can tell. Other than that, are you alright?"

"Of course I am." She sat on her bed and crossed her legs. "I'm tough, Commander. So, whats the problem?"

"Haru. He was complaining about how to treated him in front of the Aqua losers."

"Urg!" Nate hit the top of her bed with her fist. "Look, that Cassius kid stuck with me for those two days and let me boss him around. I wasn't going to just abandon him on the mountain and the money I gave him was stolen from such rich brat. Haru is not my commander, you are. I only take orders from you." Nate ranted.

"But you can't treat him that way."

"Why can't I?! Why didn't YOU come and get me?" Nate tried to lower her voice so her father wouldn't wake up. "What the hell?!"

"Maxie wouldn't allow me to! He said he was sending Haru out to get you. I don't know why, he knows you hate him." Tabitha muttered. "Relax, alright? You made it back!"

"You're just lucky I decided to not run off with the guy. We could've been in Kanto by now living the life of run-away criminals." Nate joked. "So is that all you wanted to say?"

"Basically, just wanted to make sure you were fine. "

"Well, I'm fine." Nate said and there were a few moments of awkward silence. "Just come and get me next time.

"Don't run off without me next time then." Tabitha said and climbed back out the window. He put the screen back in it and waved to Nate before disappearing into the dark. She shut the window and fell onto her bed. She kept thinking she heard Tabitha outside of her window and tossed and turned throughout the night. She couldn't get use to the fact that she wasn't on the run in some town up north anymore. She kept thinking ash was going to start falling from the sky outside of her window.

She groaned into her pillow at 2am and cursed the world. She was so tired, so so so tired, but her brain kept going at a mile a minute, not letting her get any rest. Finally, when her dad came in at some time in the morning to say he was going off to work, she fell asleep. It wasn't a peaceful sleep, but it was still sleep, and thats all that mattered.

* * *

**Sorry for the shortness and sorry for such the long wait. I am swamped in school projects and if I don't finish them soon, I won't pass. T.T So, have a great thanksgiving and be safe! **


	11. Chapter 12

**I have four more characters to introduce, so sorry if it confuses you! I just loved them a lot and I had to use them.  
**

* * *

Cassius let out a sigh of content as he strolled through the tall grass. He had slept for a good ten hours, lazed around his house, slept some more, and then woke up bright eyed for work, even though Shelly didn't seem to be in such a great mood.

"So, what should I call you now? Dr. Dirk?" Cassius asked the male that was following him. He had dark brown hair that kind of resembled Luxway's mane somewhat, and dark gray blue eyes that made Cassius a little nervous. "Since you're a scientist and all that jazz."

"Just Dirk, same as it's always been, Cas.." He replied and put his hands into the pocket of his white lab coat. Cassius nodded and looked ahead again. He was sent to 'protect' Dirk as he did some field research at a pond close to Lilycove. Water sampling was important to the Aqua scientists and apparently Dirk would be in danger if he went alone. Why? Cassius didn't bother to ask.

"So we're just going to guard him?" A girl with long brown hair done up in a high ponytail asked, a little annoyed.

"Yup." Cassius told her, wondering why he had to be babysitting a newbie grunt as well as guard a field researcher. "Leighton, I know this isn't exciting, but it's better than hanging around Shelly. She's not in a good mood."

"I know, I just thought we would be doing something, you know, a little more interesting." Leighton complained.

"Hey! Stop complaining." A voice buzzed in her ear. "Look, you agreed to do this, so behave."

Leighton saw that Cassius was busy helping Dirk so she turned her back to them and messed with the ear piece. "Jordan, stop yelling, it hurts my ears." She whispered into a mic she had on the cuff of her shirt. "Ian, tell him to shut the heck up."

"Shut the heck up, Jordan." Ian told the boy he was sitting with. After returning back to his group, Ian ran into Jordan, Leighton, and Mikhail, three friends that were traveling together. They had had a few run ins with Team Magma and Aqua and seemed eager to help the police catch them. Well, Mikhail did, only because he was excited to join Team Magma and wear their uniform. Leighton, being the all water pokemon trainer, was sent to aqua and was not having a good time. She cursed Mikhail for being the fire crazed trainer that he was and wished they could switch places.

"You okay, Leighton?" Cassius asked.

"O-Of course, sir." She nodded, nervous. She had heard horror stories about how horrible Team Aqua could be. She didn't want to know what they would do to spies.

"No need to call me sir, I'm not your commander." Cassius said with a relax expression. He sat down next to Dirk and stretched out. "Is the weather this weekend going to be good? I want to surf some before the storm season hits."

"Is he really talking about surfing?" Jordan asked into Leighton's ear. "This will get us no where..."

"He's a bit of a goof, but don't underestimate him, understood Leighton? He's still evil. " Ian added. Leighton just sat down near the other Aqua members and sighed into her hands.

"I cannot do this.."

"I thought the same thing when I first joined! Didn't you Dirk?"Cassius asked Dirk.

"No, I think before I make big decisions."

"HARSH." Cassius complained. "Well, our team is far greater than Team Magma. Those guys are just sticks in the mud." Cassius shrugged. "They don't like to take breaks and relax."

"Of course we would send Mikhail to that group..." Jordan muttered into the mic and Leighton heard it loud and clear in her ear.

"They don't?" Leighton asked, hoping to pry more information out of the boy.

"Nope, sure don't. They're dangerous, not saying that we aren't, but they can get nasty." Cassius glanced back towards Dirk, who was frowning. "Their members are hot heads too. I got stuck with one for while. She warmed up to me, but she was still pretty cold."

"How cold?" Dirk asked, knowing Cassius would want him to.

"ICE COLD." Cassius cheered and high fived Dirk. "Love saying that. Anyway, that's probably just how they were trained to act. I would be upset and angry and short tempered if I had to wear that stupid hood."

Leighton nodded her head in agreement, but she thought the hood was sort of cute.

"But they're our enemies, don't forget that." Dirk reminded Leighton and also Cassius.

"I won't!" Cassius told him. "Relax, I've got Shelly breathing down my neck so I won't screw up. Besides, I don't want those hooded losers taking us down." he muttered and tightened his bandana. "Wouldn't mind losing these things though, they mess up my hair."

"Your hair is already messy without putting on that bandana." Dirk muttered while sampling water. Cassius pouted at him and crossed his arms.

"That's the style now, besides, I can't help it that my hair won't conform. I love my hair, it's amazing." Cassius smiled at Dirk. "How much longer is this going to take? Shelly wants me to get back as soon as possible. Got another mission tonight."

"Weather Institute? She was telling me about that one. Seems Team Magma might be there."

"Then I guess it'll be a party, won't it?" Cassius smirked and Leighton looked nervously at the both of them. Team Aqua didn't seem so scary when she first got here, but the look on Cassius' & Dirk's face were starting to frighten her. A rustle in the brush put all three of them on alert and Leighton was ready to send her pokemon out in case of an intruder. Ai's head popped out of the tall grass. Once she saw that they were there she joined them.

"Commander sent me out here with you. She said you needed more protection since you were sure to fall asleep." She sighed as she told Cassius this.

"Why did she put me in partial command if she thinks I'll fall asleep on the job?!" He asked in despair. "I can't believe she doesn't trust me."

"Probably because you screwed up at Fallarbor Town." Dirk said.

"Thanks for reminding me, but, you know, it wasn't my fault that there was an EARTHQUAKE." He said to Dirk, waiting for another witty remark from the scientist.

"I never said it was, but she believes that you could've easily held that magma girl hostage."

"She was scary." Cas grumbled and Leighton rolled her eyes. Was she seriously just frightened by this boy?

"I'm Leighton; it's nice to meet you." She to the girl, hoping she would know important information.

"O-Oh, I'm Ai." She girl said shyly, shaking Leighton's hand nervously.

"Are they usually like this?"

"Cassius and Dirk? Oh yes. They like to batter back and forth, but its all play arguing. They get along very well." Ai explained, warming up with Leighton a little. "They act like brothers sometimes, its sweet."

"Don't mess up my sample!" Dirk hit Cassius' arm after the boy tried to mix samples together to cause mischief. "Why did Shelly put you in charge?"

"I'm a great leader, that's why."

"No one else wanted to do it, that's why."

"Rude."

* * *

"Mikhail!" Nate called out, grabbing the blond boy by his hood. He spun around and looked at her. His red and black highlights in his hair framed his scared face. "Stop running around." She ordered. "You're making me look bad, and you know what happens when you make me look bad?" Mikhail shook his head. "You get put into Haru's group. Do you want to be in his group?" She asked him and directed his attention towards the commander with piercing red eyes. Mikhail once again shook his head and Nate let him go. "Then, stop. I'm trying to help you out here."

"Sorry." Mikhail muttered, wishing he had joined Team Aqua again for this job. Jordan ranted into Mikhail's ear from the ear piece about how he was going to get caught, but Mikhail just turned the volume down.

"I don't mean to be so harsh on you; you're not a total lost like the other new grunts. At least you have good Pokémon and can fight." Nate tried to calm down and not take her anger out on the newbie grunt. "I'm just tired." She rubbed her temples and looked around for her commander. She grunted and looked at the group of grunts that were assigned to Tabitha.

"Where is Tabitha?" Haru asked, coming over to the group. The newbie grunts looked at him, terrified, and silenced themselves quickly.

"Maxie wanted to discuss something with him about a half hour ago; I didn't think it would take this long." She said respectively, knowing that being disrespectful in front of new grunts would be hell later on. "I've got them under control if you wanted to get back to your group. They seem to be..." Nate trailed off, watching his grunts break out into loud fits of laugher and giggles. He stormed back over to them and it got quiet.

"See? If you act out, I send you to be in his group." Nate smirked and put her hands on her hips. The grunts groaned and Mikhail sighed. "It'll get better once you get used to it here. Just wait for the Commander to show up." When he showed up, she was leaving. She had already pulled the night shift before. She was luckily able to get some sleep and a few hours to relax before she had to be back in. Not so lucky for her that it was time to get new grunts. "You guys need to behave and be respectful to him when he shows up, got it? Some of you will be taken on an important mission tonight if he decides you're ready, so don't screw this up."

"Scaring the grunts?" Tabitha asked appearing behind her.

"Of course not, sir. Just telling them the truth! Well, now that you're here, I'm heading home." Nate smiled at him and tried walking off, only to have someone grab her hoodie and pull her back. "Nooooooooooooo!" She whined, glaring at Tabitha. "Sir, please, have mercy on me. I was just in a life threatening situation."

"That was a day ago; you should be over it by now. Also, must I remind you how you got into that situation?" He asked and looked down at her. "You didn't follow my orders."

"I-I know that." She said. He was embarrassing her in front of the grunts. "I've been here for like, four years, okay? It's fine to make ONE mistake!" She told the group of grunts and glared at Tabitha. "I've been a great sidekick for you, Commander."

"And a pain in my ass." He said and some grunts laughed. "But I'm taking you on the mission tonight, since you are my favorite pain in the ass."

"B-But sir.." Nate mumbled.

"Weren't you just teaching these grunts to be respectful to me?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be setting a good example?"

"I did. I talked to you in a respectful manner. You're the one that called me a pain in the ass and told me I'm taking the night shift, again, so I'm bound to be a little whiney, sir." Nate explained.

"Like I said before, she's a pain in the ass." Tabitha turned towards his group of grunts. "But she's my pain in the ass and she's ahead of all of you, so you listen to her commands as well as mine, alright? She knows what she's doing."

"Aw, thanks commander!" Nate smiled at him.

"You two aren't sleeping together, right?" Mikhail asked and the group started to laugh.

"N-No! Of course not!" Nate shouted at him and pulled him out of the group by his hood. "I told you to shut up or I'll send you to Haru's group!"

"I don't want him!" Haru shouted, hearing what Nate said.

"Natalie, you watch him, he's your grunt now." Tabitha ordered, glaring at the boy. "Make sure he learns how to behave."

"Of course, sir. Mikhail, go do 5 laps.

"W-What?!"

"Did I stutter?" Nate asked and hit him over the back of his head. "That'll teach you not to ask inappropriate questions!"

"Awah man.." Mikhail whined and started stretch so he could jog around the gym they were in. The group started to laugh and Nate glared at them.

"Since the rest of you think it's so funny to see what of your teammates punished, you get to do 5 laps too." She growled. Mikhail smiled because hey, he didn't have to do it alone anymore!

"Mikhail, why did you do that?" Ian asked through the ear piece.

"I wanted to know, duh." Mikhail muttered into the mic on the inside of his hood.

* * *

**Okay~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If there are any mistakes, I'm really sorry. I looked over this many times to fix any mistakes, so I hope none slipped past! **


	12. Chapter 13

"Are you sure?" A girl with brown hair and straight bangs asked Nate.

"Of course." Nate growled out, trying to remain calm. "You're allowed breaks, just as long as you get back to the base when you're supposed to. Don't you need to go check in with your parents or something?"

"No, she knows where I am.."

"She knows that you're with us?"

"She suggested that I joined. Nothing else for me to do.."

"D-Do you hear this, Commander? Parents are letting these kids join! Luckies." She grumbled.

"Just because your mom doesn't like it, doesn't mean all parents are the same, Nate. You're scaring Esther.." Tabitha told her.

"Sorry." Nate said, even though it was said with no empathy for the girl. "Does she know you're staying out with us tonight?"

"I-I get to go on the mission with you guys tonight?" Esther asked, surprised. She was sure she wasn't going to be picked!

"Of course. Your Vulpix is strong and you can battle well. Plus, you're very good at running...away...but nonetheless, that could help us." Nate explained and looked over Tabitha's shoulder to look at his clipboard. "Mikhail, if you screw this up for me.." She glared at her grunt.

"I'm in? SWEEETTTTT!" He jumped up and had a big smile on his face. He ran up to Nate and hugged her tightly.

"H-Hey!" She struggled in his gasp and Tabitha hit him on the head with his clipboard.

"Don't touch her." He ordered Mikhail, who let go of her straight away and apologized. "Your pokemon are strong and you're also strong in battle. You need way more work in discipline, but I'm sure Nate can take care of that quickly. Do not screw this chance up." He threatened him and Mikhail nodded his head quickly.

"I gotta go tell my mom!" Esther said. "I'll be back soon, she's in Verdanturf town."

"I gotta go that way, I'll go with you." Mikhail said and the two headed off towards the town. "So, I seriously think Commander and Nate are sleeping together."

"Not this again." Esther sighed and looked at the blond.

"Did you see his face when I was hugging her? I thought he was going to kill me! He's totally into her."

"That doesn't mean that they're together. He probably just doesn't want a strange boy hugging his second in command." Esther replied. "Because what if something happened to her? What if you accidently pushed her while trying to hug her and she fell down and hit her head and went into a coma?!"

"I think you're getting a little carried away." He told the girl with a weird face. He listened to her dramatic stories until they finally reached her house. He promised to meet up with her again and walk to the base with her when she started to worry over not remembering where the base was located. He trotted through the tunnel that led to Rustburo City and to the pokemon center where Ian and Jordan were waiting for him.

"We've been trying to contact you all day!" Jordan growled once he joined them at their table. "We just gave up to have a lunch break and here you come all smiley."

"Guess who gets to hit up the weather institute tonight with the hooded baddies?" Mikhail cheered. "ME!"

"They're going to rob the weather institute tonight?" Ian asked and Mikhail shook his head yes. Ian excused himself from the pair to alert his team captain of this news.

"Why didn't you contact us sooner? That's important information." Mikhail's black haired friend asked.

"Relax Jordan, I just found out!"

"Leighton reports in like she's suppose to, you know."

"Well, I'm much better looking and cooler than her, so whats your point?" Mikhail asked with a smirk. "Besides, she's probably whining about getting her hair wet and is running around dressed as a pirate."

"Speaking of uniforms, do you plan on taking your hood top off?" Jordan asked the boy who was fully dressed in Magma attire. He scrambled to pull his hood top off and stuff in onto his lap and tried to cover it up.

"Good, you took the hood off." Ian said joined the two again. "Mikhail, it is very important you keep your ear piece and mic on tonight, understood? If we can capture Tabitha or Haru or even Nate, that could help us take these guys down. Leighton already promised to do that so we can catch Shelly or Cassius."

"Got it, no problemo, just don't start randomly yapping into my ear!" Mikhail complained. "It startles me and Nate looks at me like I have five heads."

"She probably always looks at you like that.."

"Haha, veryyyyyyyy funny Jordan." Mikhail glared at him with a pout and looked at the clock on the wall. "I gotta go, it'll take me 20 minutes to get back to Esther's house and she'll start having a breakdown if I show up late.." He left the two and headed to Esther's house. He walked up right as she was leaving her house and the two headed back to the base.

"I'm surprised you two showed back up early." Nate said, slightly impressed when she saw them. She was sitting in the gym, waving her hand as she tried to make her nail polish dry. "Had to touch up my nails, my mom will flip if it's messed up.

"That red polish really makes your eyes pop." Mikhail smirked and she rolled her eyes.

"Compliments won't win you any favors here, if you wanted to move up in rank based on them and other favors, I would suggest Team Aqua. You work for your rank here." She lectured the two. "Now, it's time to battle. I can't have any mistakes tonight. You two will have my back on this mission and have your teams back but before you do any of that, you need to watch your own back and also and your pokemon's backs. Got it? Rachel! I need you to toughen up my grunts."

"With pleasure!" The girl smirked and pulled out a pokeball.

"Oh god.." Esther whined.

* * *

"If I wanted to listen to two boys argue, I would've stayed with my friends." Leighton complained as Dirk and Cassius argued about something.

"Sorry, we get into it." Cassius smiled apologetically at Leighton and rubbed his neck. "So, what made you wanna join us? You saw all the attractive males in it? And by attractive males, I mean me."

Dirk snorted and Cassius glared at him.

"I love water pokemon." Leighton said with a small smile. "They're the only pokemon I have."

"Oh yeah, saw that on your member sheet. Nice line up you have, by the way. I guess you've been to all the regions in the world?"

"Yeah, my family used to take vacations to them and I gathered pokemon as I went."

"Lucky." Cassius grumbled. "I can't wait to get outta here and hit the seas! How sweet would it be to travel the world with your pokemon by your side?" He smiled as he rambled, excited by his dream.

"Wait, your dream is to leave here?"

"Yeah, I love Hoenn, but my dream as always been to go sailing around the world and meet new pokemon and people. Did you think I wanted to wear this outfit forever?" Cassius asked Leighton with a surprised expression. "I'm just waiting for this plan and team to crumble so I can get outta here."

"What?!" Leighton asked, surprised by his confession.

"Everyone knows it." Dirk nodded his head. "Those totally in it are lost souls. They think it's for the best of the world, when it's not. Many members are here for different reasons."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm here for the equipment and training I get from other scientists." Dirk said.

"I'm here for protection until I can be with the guy I love.." Ai admitted shyly.

"And I got tangled up in this when I was young and it keeps me busy and out of trouble...well..keeps me in trouble." Cassius shrugged and smirked. "Causing mischief is just a bonus, you know?"

"You would do that even if you weren't part of this team." Dirk and Ai said at the same time and laughed as Cassius pouted at them.

"Hey, I didn't make fun of you for your reasons for staying." Cassius grumbled and more rustling was heard from the tall grass. Aura came out of it and looked relieved to see them.

"I knew I heard Cassius whining." She said happily and plopped down on the ground next to Leighton. "I'm Aura, nice to meet you, Leighton I assume? Anyway, are you guys actually working? Shelly sent me out here to make sure you were."

"...We are." Cassius said. "We're...doing trust exercises to be a better team."

* * *

Big black clouds loomed in the sky as both teams approached the Weather Institute from different sides. They were split up into groups and scattered, sneaking around to make sure the cops weren't around. They invaded the building in a clash and scrambled to get what they needed.

"Commanders.." Shelly greeted Tabitha and Haru as they crossed their arms across their chest, not pleased with Team Aqua crashing their raid. The Teams faced each other, glaring at one another. Neither team brought many members to the raid so neither one was greatly outnumbered.

"Commander." They both said in unison.

"T-Team Magma and Aqua?!" A girl shouted from the hostage group that was huddled in a corner. Cassius and Nate looked over at her and recognized her as the girl that helped them out in Fallarbor town. Lily! Tabitha looked over at Nate and nodded his head. She nodded back and ran up the stairs with Esther and Mikhail right behind her.

"Cas!" Shelly ordered and he ran after her with Leighton and Aura by his side. As Cas and Nate huddled up more hostages, the others ran around, except Leighton and Mikhail, to look for what they needed. A crack of thunder went off and shook the building as someone downstairs yelled, "COPS!"

"Awah man, why did I join?" Esther whimpered and stayed by Nate and Mikhail. "I'm going to die."

"Esther, you're with me. I promise nothing will happen to you if you watch my back." Nate promised and looked at the younger girl. "Same to you Mikhail. You two are my teammates and my grunts. Now, lets go." She darted down the stairs, dodging past her own team and team Aqua grunts. Mikhail wasn't too worried about getting caught since he was a spy, but had to keep up the act to make Nate and Esther believe him. Esther was about to have a heart-attack and clung onto Mikhail for dear life.

Cassius, Aura, and Leighton soon followed, abandoning the mission. They made it down the stairs and almost ran into Nate and her group. She and Cassius exchanged glances, both wondering what the other was going to do.

"Truce?" Nate asked, surprising both parties and even herself. "For now? We can't make it out unless we help each other."

"Deal. I say hostage." Cassius agreed and looked at the group. The two teams hurried over and Cassius pulled Lily from the group and held her in front of them as a shield. "I'm really sorry about this, Lily."

"Cassius?! Nate?!" She was surprised and frightened, much like Esther was. "I-I only wanted to come and check this place out, not get caught up in this mess!"

"So did we." Esther whined and kept a firm hold on Mikhail. They heard the rain as it hit the roof of the building and tried to dodge attacks from grunts and cops they were battling each other.

"Where's Nate?!" Tabitha shouted to his group outside, looking around for his 2nd in command. "Don't tell me she's still inside?!"

"Cas!?" Shelly yelled from beside Tabitha, not caring that he was close to her. "Oh god, again?" The two teams made it out the door and Shelly and Tabitha sighed with relief.

"Freeze! Let the girl go." Ian ordered with a few cops joining him.

"Not unless you let some of our teams go!" Nate yelled back, pushing Mikhail towards Tabitha. "Take her and run, alright?" Cassius did the same with Aura and Leighton, ready to called out his Umbreon to get himself out of this mess. Ian nodded and the four got back to their teams and Cassius released Lily. She ran straight for the cops screaming. The teams ran off to evade the cops, knowing that Cassius and Nate would be okay.

"Now what about us?" Cassius asked Nate as the cops closed in on them. "Our teams left us, we're surrounded, it's raining so I'm guessing you're about to start melting.."

"Now is not the time for jokes!" She elbowed him and called out her Espeon. "I have an idea."

"Espeon, use yawn!" Nate ordered and the pink pokemon yawned, causing a white mist to head straight for the cops. They all yawned and started to become drowsy. They slowed down and Cassius caught wind of her plan easily. He grabbed Nate's hand and ran straight through the cops. Espeon attacked any of them that tried to grab them and the three made it out fine. Nate returned Espeon and leaned against a tree, panting as rain hit her face.

"How did they find out?" Cassius asked, wiping his forehead. "Even if someone called the cops, no way in hell they'd get here so quickly..."

"I don't know...and I don't know how we pulled any of that off..." Nate couldn't believe it had gone that way. She was sure it wasn't going to work and she'd end up in handcuffs.

"Got you!" Ian shouted and grabbed Cassius from behind. He handcuffed him before he had anytime to struggle. "Don't even think about it." He said to Nate. "Unless you want him hurt, I suggest you put your hands up." Nate looked back to Cassius and to Ian. She could run and ditch him, but he helped her and her team out. She grudgingly put up her hands and Ian handcuffed her as well.

* * *

**Okay, cliff hanger! These quick updates will hopefully not end soon, but I do have to stop putting off my school work. Lame. Please tell me what you thought and also, if there's any characters you want to see interact together more, please tell me who and how you want them to interact please! If you like Dirk and Cassius' arguing, let me know so I can write more of it, or if you like how Cassius basically flirts with Nate, tell me! What are your ships in this story?(Just because you tell me your ship does not mean it will happen, but it will help me make the story better and funnier)  
**


	13. Chapter 14

The metal was cold against Cassius' wrists and the glare that Nate was sending him sent chills up his spine. They stood with their backs against a tree. Ian's nidoking, Rey, was guarding them as he went to go try and wake up his team.

"I've never been caught. 4 years. 4 years of this and I've never been caught." Nate sighed, looking up at the dark sky as rain continued to drizzle down. It would pour, then drizzle, then pour again. The sky couldn't make up its mind.

"I've been caught a few times before. Usually got myself out of it though." Cassius looked at the nidoking and back to her. "Don't usually get caught by cops who have scary pokemon like this."

"We have pokemon, we can fight." Nate was ready to challenge the tall pokemon, not afraid of it.

"Please, enlighten me. How well can you move your hands or arms in that shiny pair of handcuffs you got there?" Cassius asked, smirking at her.

"Idiot, you can grab my pokeballs, can't you?" She whispered and he stepped closer to her and moved his hands a bit. "Gah! That's my butt!" She stepped on his foot when she felt him grab it.

"I'm sorry." He said, but she knew he wasn't. "Can't you call out your pokemon?"

"With him standing there?" She glanced at Nidoking and back to Cassius. "If we can get him out of the way, we can run off and back to our hideouts before Ian gets back."

"That's a pretty big if."

"What else can we do? Our teams aren't coming back to get us anytime soon. They probably think that we're on the way back to them."

"So you want me to try and grab your pokeballs again?"

"If you can do it without grabbing my ass? Then yes." Nate sent a glare his way. Cassius tried again and grabbed one of her pokeballs successfully. "Okay, throw it."

Cassius tossed it the best he could like she said to. "Go, pokemon!" A Blaziken appeared out of the bright light.

"Blaziken, hurry and take him out, we gotta get away from the cops!" Nate ordered the fire pokemon. He nodded his head and attacked Rey. The two were both strong pokemon and neither wanted to lose. "This is your chance, make a run for it, Cas."

"What?"

"You need to get going, seriously. I have blaziken, I'm not worried. You, however, don't." Nate smirked. "Get across that bridge before he comes back." Cassius nodded and ran, well, tried to run off. Handcuffs made it difficult, but he managed.

He almost slipped a few times on the bridge, but kept going. Forttree City was nearly impossible for Cassius to get through. The rain picked back up and the ladders were too slippery for him to climb on, besides, his hands were handcuff and he couldn't climb up even if he wanted to.

He looked around and ran into the forest beneath the tree houses. It was tricky to get through, but it was better than nothing. He felt the branches hit him and scratch him on his arms and cheeks and he seriously needed a raise in pay for this. He almost slipped, but fixed his footing and made it out of the forest as the rain lightened up a bit. He slowed his pace to a slow jog, figuring the cops wouldn't be able to catch up with him now, and even if they did, he knew this area well and could easily hide and escape from them. Besides, he knew he had a long long way to go before he would get back to Lilycove.

* * *

Nate hurried into the tall grass with blaziken right behind her. Blaziken had defeated Rey, but Ian was heading back and she knew she had to hide, fast. Her pokemon returned to it's pokeball as she dove underneath a branch and rolled under a small bush. The twigs poked her cheek and she was now covered in dirt and mud, but she was hidden amongst the forest and really didn't care that it hurt.

She tried to sit up, but decided that laying down was better for now, at least until the cops left, and would try to sit up later. She heard footsteps and yells around the area and the search for either Cassius or her was on.

Nate had never felt so terrified in her entire life. She had been doing this type of stuff for years, but she always had a partner or backup waiting for her signal and she had never been outnumbered by this many cops before. She listened for them, holding her breath when they got closer and taking deep breaths of air when they moved farther from her. She didn't know how long she laid there, but once she heard them live, she grew relieved.

Still, she didn't move. They could be tricking her, so she laid still and listened for any sign of them.

* * *

Cassius pushed through the grass, cursing the mud that clung onto his shoes and the legs of his pants. It was heavy and made it harder for him to walk, which was what he was doing now. He gave up jogging long ago. His walked slowed to an even slower pace once he reached the Safari zone. He was so close to Lilycove, he could barely stand it.

He went through the maze of short grass and fences that had no purpose whatsoever and started to trot as he entered Lilycove. Not knowing what time it was and whether or not people were still walking away, he figured it best to hurry through the town and head straight for the beach.

The sand was even harder to run or walk in and he tripped constantly. Cassius slowed down and his feet started to drag. His adrenaline rush was long over and he had no more energy to go on and didn't have Nate yelling at him to keep going.

"Cassius?" Dirk asked as he saw his friend dragging his feet across the ground . "What happened?! Are you handcuffed?" He asked the blond. His pants were covered in mud, he had scratches up and down his arms and on his face, he was panting and he looked like he was about to collapse.

"I need a shower..." He mumbled, leaning on the boy for support when he got close enough. "Food. Sleep. Get these damn things off my wrists...please..."

"Alright, let's go..." He mumbled and let him lean on him for support. "I've got you.."

* * *

Nate sat up now, after a while of struggling to do so. The rain stopped pouring and was drizzling now, again. It had poured 3 times in the last hour or so she had been sitting here. She shivered tried to get her hands out of the handcuffs once more, but they were tight and it hurt her wrists to even try and move them.

"Nate..?" Tabitha called out, looking around the area for his missing grunt. She had been gone two hours, which was too long. He knew something had to have gone wrong. "Nate!"

"Commander?" Nate asked, hoping this wasn't a trap. Tabitha hurried towards her voice and pulled the shrubs and bushes she was hiding behind away.

"Nate, thank Groudon.." Relief flooded him once he saw her. She was okay! "What happened to you?" He asked and helped her up, realizing she was handcuffed. "That's why..." He mumbled while digging around his pocket. He pulled out a pick to help him pick the lock on the handcuffs. "I'm sorry Nate, how long have you been out here?"

"An hour maybe? I dunno.."

"You're probably going to get sick.." He led her towards his Salamance and helped her on. He climbed on behind her and the dragon pokemon took off. "No more leaving you behind, you always end up in such horrible shape.." He felt terrible, it was all his fault she was stuck like this! She couldn't get back to base handcuffed; she would have to swim just to get Mauville City and she would definitely have drowned if she had tried.

"Okay.." Nate mumbled, not feeling like arguing. She was drained. She just wanted to sleep.

* * *

**I wanted to drag this out a little longer, but, I couldn't do it. Okay, so for those of you who aren't familiar with Hoenn, there's a small river between Mauville and land on the other side. The river leads out into the ocean, and you can't get across unless you have a pokemon that knows swim. I was going to make Nate try to get across it, but, she would die. Seriously.  
**

**Anyway, thank you for all the reviews! I really listen to what you guys say, so don't be afraid to tell me how to felt about the chapter. I know it was short and kinda rushed, but I couldn't come up with a good way to drag it out. I'm pretty sure I fixed all mistakes in this, but I bet someone will find one. Sorry if it felt choppy, I just wanted to show both Nate and Cassius and it turned out like this.  
**


	14. Chapter 15

Cassius jolted awake and looked around the room he was in. It was dark, but a few rays of light were coming through the blinds. He yawned and rubbed his eyes trying to wake himself up. Normally if he woke up in a strange room having no memories of how he got here in the first place, he would be a little worried, but he didn't really care too much.

"Awake?" A male voiced asked and Cassius nodded his head. "I thought you'd sleep longer than you did, it's only 8am."

"Too early." Cassius grumbled and looked at Dirk, who was rolling his eyes and sitting in his kitchen, drinking some coffee.

"I also thought you would be wondering where you were."

"Wondering takes effort." Cassius smirked and stretched, yawning again. "So, what happened?

"Found you almost passed out on the beach. You were handcuffed, so I'm guessing the cops from last night's mission got you."

"Oh yeah…" Cassius mumbled, remembering last night's events. "No wonder my arms hurt. I'm hungry." Dirk rolled his eyes at this but held up a plate of food. Cassius jumped up off of the couch and hurried into the kitchen to eat. "Thank youuuuu."

"How do you even stay alive? You just shrug off something serious like that and announce you're hungry." Dirk sighed and finished his coffee and poured himself another cup.

"Grandpa takes care of me." Cassius said and swallowed his food. "Gah, he'll be home tomorrow, eh, not going to work today then. I need a day off." Cassius stuffed more food into his mouth and looked at Dirk.

"You can't just say you're going to have a day off. You're lucky I called Shelly and explained what happened; she thought you seriously got arrested. She wanted to know how you even got away, but, I was honest and told her I didn't know."

"Because I'm awesome."

Dirk stared at him and sipped his coffee.

"Dirk, I am."

Again, he just stared at him and sipped his coffee.

"Magma girl helped me out a little. She made a distraction and I got away."

"Someone from Team Magma helped you?" Dirk asked, not believing him. "They're evil though."

"And we aren't?" Cassius asked with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, most of them are, but she's not. She tries to be, but she's a softy for me." Dirk still didn't look like he believed him, so Cassius decided to drop the subject, knowing Dirk would never agree. He hated Team Magma for a good reason, but Nate was different. "So I got the day off, right?"

"Yes, yes you did."

"What's the weather forecast?"

"Sunny, few clouds, nice and warm."

"Sweet, going surfing." Cassius smiled and put the dish in the sink. "Wanna join me?" He asked while he washed the dish.

"Don't you think you should rest? You were in awful shape last night."

"All I need is to change, grab my board, and hit the beach. C'monnnn, don't you wanna come with me? You can relax on the beach and read or something."

"No, I need to do some work."

"Please?"

"No."

"Dirk. Please? We deserve a day off once in a while. Seriously. I can't work my life away." Cassius dried off the plate and set in on the counter. Dirk sighed, but Cassius grinned, knowing he won. "Let's go!"

* * *

Nate yawned and stretched. She sat up and looked around the foreign room she was in. She immediately went into high alert as she tried to figure out where she was. The door opened and she gripped onto the blanket, ready to launch herself out of the bed and get out of the room.

"Hey!" Rachel greeted with a warm smile and Nate relaxed. "You feeling better?"

"I guess. Where am I?"

"Oh, Tabitha's room of course." Rachel said nonchalantly.

"T-Tabitha's? C-Commander Tabitha's room? This is his bed!?" Nate asked.

"Yup, don't you remember last night?"

"Uhm, not at the moment…." Nate mumbled. "I'm a little sore..."

"Figures, you two were prettttttyyy loud last night. Thought I'd never be able to get to sleep."

"Excuse me?" Nate asked, her face getting red. "I-I don't remember that at all!" She was freaking out internally and probably externally. Her and Tabitha? Did they really!?

"You better try to remember, he'll be upset if you can't remember what happened last night."

"She can't remember?" Tabitha asked, walking into his room with a worried expression. "Are you okay? Your face is really red."

"I-I-I uhm, fine!" Nate said nervously. "Just a little warm. U-Uh, what happened last night?"

"You got arrested, escaped, I found you, and brought you back here." Tabitha explained. "You were out there for a while, you sure you haven't gotten sick?"

"So, we…we didn't?" Nate glared at Rachel, ready to jump out of bed and attack the girl.

"Hahahaha! No! Of course not! He brought you back and you were barely awake. I just helped you into some dry clothes and you fell right asleep. You two didn't have sex; I can't believe you actually believed me!"

"Why would you tell her that?!" Tabitha growled. "Get out of here, go do something productive!" He ordered and she ran out, laughing the whole time. "I'm sorry about that.." Tabitha mumbled. His cheeks were turning a light pink as he said this.

"No worries sir, that's just how Rachel is." Nate said and bit her lip. "Ah, well, I probably should get home…I'm staying with my mom this week and she'll freak out if I'm not home." She got out of his bed and looked at her clothes. "Are these Rachel's shorts?"

"Yeah, those are all she had. She didn't have any spare shirts, so that's mine. Are you sure you're going to be okay walking to Mauville by yourself?" Tabitha asked as Nate ran her fingers through her hair. "You look a little red."

"I'll be fine.." She was embarrassed now, really embarrassed. She was wearing TABITHA'S Shirt.

He was _not_ getting it back.

She grabbed her pokeballs off of his side table and smiled at him. "Thanks for last night. I'll return your shirt to you soon." She lied and left quickly before her face could get redder.

Seriously though, he was not getting that shirt back.

She headed down the hills and into Mauville City. "Gah, I should've let him walk me home.." Nate grumbled to herself, wanting to slap herself. Still, she knew it would be awkward if he had. Rachel has made sure of that. "Hey, mom! Sorry I'm late." Nate said as she walked into her home.

"Sweetie, glad you're back! Oh, love those shorts and that top!" Her mother said, looking at her daughter's outfit. "Hey, it's supposed to be beautiful in Lilycove today! Do you wanna go have a mother-daughter day there? We could check out Pokémon contests and the beach and the department store!"

Nate felt her head throb and she realized she wasn't feeling the best and hadn't really eaten or gotten to shower, besides, Lilycove…wasn't that where Cassius lived? "Uh, could I eat and shower first?"

"Of course! The bridge across the river should be fixed by now. That whole area was flooded last night! That storm was horrible. I'm so glad the sun is out!" She exclaimed and Nate nodded her head and took a few pills to get rid of her aches.

* * *

Cassius hurried onto shore, dumped his surfboard next to Dirk, who was sitting under an umbrella, and plopped down next to him, unstrapping his ankle from his surfboard chord. "What's up?" He asked, running his hand through his hair, shaking his head. Dirk rolled his eyes and pushed Cassius away.

"Stop getting my book wet."

"Don't reject me Dirkkk!"

"This is not rejection, stop acting like that!" Dirk hit him with his book. "Go chase girls and leave me alone."

"Finee.." Cassius grumbled and looked around the beach. "Well what do we have here?" Cassius asked looking towards the small cliffs that were near the beach. "NATE!" Cassius called, waving towards the blonde. She looked at him and groaned. He smirked at Dirk and walked over to her.

Nate cursed her luck and stepped down the small ledges before stepping onto the sand.

"Hey! What are you doing on the beach?" Cassius asked, smiling at her.

"Mom brought me here. She loves this place. I, however, am not a huge fan." She looked out at the ocean. "She does not understand that this place is absolutely crawling with Aqua grunts, like you. I am probably in danger of being ambushed."

"No you aren't, c'mon over with me; I'll introduce you to my friend. " Cassius said and started to walk off. Nate didn't follow him, so he rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him. He realized introducing Dirk to Nate, a Team Magma grunt, probably wasn't the best idea, but, he's had worst. "Look, Nate, we've gone through this before. We're friends, whether you like it or not."

"Forcing a girl to come with you is not a great idea." Dirk said, looking up from his book at the blondes.

"Dirk, this is Nate! Nate, this is my bff, Dirk." Cassius smirked and Dirk rolled his eyes. "Nate's my bff too."

"No, I am not. We're not even friends. Did you hit your head last night?"

"No, I didn't. Stop being a killjoy, I'm enjoying my day off. I'm surprised you're even taking one." Cassius grumbled. "You're acting like Dirk."

"Rude." Dirk muttered.

"Well acting like Dirk here has kept me out of trouble with the police. Of course, that went down the drain when I met you." Nate crossed her arms across her chest. "I only seem to get into trouble when you're around."

"Psh, you're always into trouble, like the rest of us." Cassius smirked at her. Dirk looked at Cassius and then up at Nate. Noticing the bruises around her wrists that she attempted to hide with bracelets, her defensive stance, the way she kept looking around like someone was going to jump her, and how she spoke to Cassius, it clicked. Magma Grunt.

"You're the one that helped Cassius yesterday?" Dirk asked, still not believing that the girl had helped his friend. She was Team Magma, she was evil.

"Hm? Yeah, even though he grabbed my ass." She glared at the blond, who shrugged and chuckled.

"Accident_._" Cassius told Dirk, who surprisingly did not believe him.

"Hey, Nate!" A male called out, one that none of them recognized. He walked up to the group with a smile on his face and a ditto on his shoulder. He flipped his brown hair out of his line of vision and looked at Nate. "You probably don't remember me, but I was your neighbor when we were younger. My mom just ran into your mom and they're just chatting away. She told me to come find you so we could go out to lunch."

Nate eyed his suspiciously, until she studied the ditto that was on his shoulder. "Dylan?" She asked, faking a surprised expression.

"That's me!" Dylan said and hugged her, surprising her. "I'm sorry to take her away from you guys, but I'm starving and I need some food."

"See ya later Nate!" Cassius smirked and Nate and Dylan walked off to meet up with Nate's mom.

"Great timing, right?" Dylan asked with a smirk and Nate rolled her eyes, elbowing the boy.

"Dylan, is that you?" Nate's mom exclaimed, hugging the boy when he and Nate approached her. "It's been so long!"

"Yup, found him wondering the beach." Nate shrugged.

"Well we were just about to head home for some lunch, would you like to join us?" She asked, smiling at him.

"I'd love to!" He cheered after he and Nate exchanged glances.

* * *

"I can't believe you're actually friends with her." Aura said after Dirk told her what happened at the beach. The two males had met up with Aura and Ai for lunch after Cassius decided he had had enough beach for the day.

"Who cares?" Cassius asked, playing with his bendy straw. "I just like bugging her, she gets all worked up. Besides, I only talk to her when we meet in the field or if I see her out somewhere, like today."

"She's part of Team Magma." Dirk said, rolling his eyes at his friend. He could really be a hard head.

"We don't exchange any information about our teams. I really just harass her, she insults me, I have a flirty or witty comeback, she gets flustered and insults me again, or hurts me. That's how our interactions usually go." Cassius explained. As long as he didn't reveal any Aqua secrets, who cared?

"I think its fine." Ai admitted. "He would never give our secrets away and it's not like he goes out of his way to see or talk to her."

"But that doesn't matter. I don't want her tricking you or getting you in trouble.." Aura told Cassius.

"You always get in even more trouble than usual with her around, she could get you arrested or injured." Dirk said.

"Actually, I am the one that got her arrested. Technically, she got herself arrested, well, I got arrested and so she let herself get arres- it's a long story." Cassius gave up trying to explain that story. "Thanks for your concern. I know we you're worried." He said to Aura and Dirk. "But I can take care of myself."

"Not last night when you almost passed out on the beach."

"I can take care of myself when I'm not handcuffed."

* * *

"Mom, I'm going to walk Dylan home, he's staying with his grandparents up in Lavaridge town." Nate said and her mother smiled, practically pushing the two out the door. They walked in silence until they made it to the outskirts on the city, where the desert and mountains began.

"I'm impressed, how did you find out about Dylan?" Nate asked, turning towards the male.

"Your dad. I don't know if you were able to tell or not, but your mother was quite happy that you were going to walk me home."

"Thats because my mom always wanted Dylan and I to get together, but, since he moved to Kanto when we were 10, that flew out the window. You kept the act up well, but you usually do. So, why did you decided to play dress up, Brodie?" Nate said and the Brodie smirked. With a flick of the wrist, the disguise was gone and he was back to looking like his normal self again.

"I need you to come along with me on a mission. Not a big deal or anything, but they said I needed a girl to act as my girlfriend. I don't see why they just didn't find a guy and let me be the girlfriend. Girls are much more fun to dress and act as." Brodie shrugged. "And if I take you with me to play as my girlfriend, it'll irritate Tabitha, which makes brings me joy."

* * *

**Brodie is actually a character in the show. I love him, really. You need to watch an episode that he's in. I would've described how he looked, but honestly, it would be easier for you to just google a picture of him. I don't think I spelled his name wrong, so it should be easy for you. I'm sorry if this chapter seemed like a filler, but I wanted to type it. **

**BTW, Dylan is a character made up on the spot and will probably never ever be mentioned ever again.**


	15. Chapter 16

**I hope you all had a lovely holiday! Sorry if this update was a bit slow. I've been goofing off lately!**

* * *

"So you two will be okay while I run down to Slateport?" Nate's mom asked 'Dylan' and Nate.

"Of course, I'll take good care of her while you're away!" 'Dylan' said with a smile and that was enough for Nate's mother to smile widely at him and shut the door.

"What do you want?" Nate asked and curled up in her blanket on the couch. She was sick. Sneezy, coughy, icky sick. She had made a permanent spot on the couch in front of the tv since earlier that day. "And take the damn disguise off, Brodie."

"What? No! Your mom might walk in and I need to be in character." He explained. "I'm here to tell you about the girl you will be posing as. This is an easy one though. Bianca Wint."

"Bianca Wint? That coordinator? Why her?" Nate asked, peeking her head out of her blanket.

"Because, she's engaged to Hugh Stone, one of the sons of Mr. Stone, who runs the Devon Corporation. They're about to reveal a new product and as usual, they're having press conferences and important things like that. Possibly a red carpet event. " Brodie said with a wave of his hand. "Hugh and Bianca usually come to these things, you know, photo ops, good advertisement, etc. But, they're vacationing in Sinnoh and Bianca has been sick recently and refuses to be in the spotlight while she looks 'sickly'" Brodie explained. "So I slipped them my name and bam, hired to be Hugh and you, my lovely Bianca."

"No way. Bull."

"They've done it many times before. They've heard of how good I am at disguises and I sent them a picture of you and after having Bianca review it, she decided that you had her face shape and could play her off with justice. Plus, you and her have the exact same eye color, that's what sold it."

"They hire people to be them when they don't feel like going to events?!"

"Nice to be rich and famous, right?"

"Geez.." Nate muttered and grabbed a tissue. "How long will this be? And why exactly are we doing this?"

"A week, maybe two tops. It'll start next week, your father already knows so don't worry about him. We want to know what inventions they're working on. They produce pretty nice stuff, and we believe an item that can turn fossils into pokemon is up next, and we want in on that and other secrets. "

"Good, now, can you go? I want to sleep so I can get better."

"What? No way, you need to watch some of these dvds of Bianca in and out of contests so you can learn how she acts when she's in the spotlight and to learn her Pokémon." Brodie pulled a few dvds out of his bag and stuck one into the dvd player and turned it on. "I'll give you her file later when you're feeling better."

"Fine fine. Since you're here, go get me some oran berry juice…please." Nate asked, rubbing her eyes and sneezing again.

"You're not so scary when you're sick, you're actually sort of cute. You should be sick more often."

"Oh shut up Brodie and get me my damn juice."

"Now you just sound like Tabitha, that's a turn off."

"Good, turn off and get out. After you get my juice, of course."

* * *

"Cassius, get out of bed. It's noon!" Cassius' Grandpa opened the curtains in the boy's room to let in sunlight. Cassius groaned and threw a pillow at the old man, who threw it back with much greater force. "Is this how to greet me after I've been away for two weeks?"

"You ditched me Gramps, totally left me here." Cassius grumbled.

"I figured you'd want to stay here for the waves and girls."

"Spot on, but still, could've offered. I wouldn't mind seeing mom and dad."

"Well, they were very busy, I barely got to see them myself." He grandpa sighed, shaking Cassius.

"What time did you say it was?" Cassius sat up, rubbing his face. His hair was going every which way and he groaned as he sneezed.

"Noon."

"Ah crap!" Cassius jumped out of the bed, running to the closest to grab his bag. "I told Dirk I'd meet up with him near Mossdeep City at noon!" He lied, knowing that he couldn't tell his grandpa what he was really late for.

Work.

"You better hurry." He grandpa said, wondering how the boy survived without him for two weeks. Cassius sprinted to the beach and called out Siren to take him to the base, changed into his uniform and scrambled to join his group in record time, and just before Shelly walked in.

"How do you always manage to be late, but still get a promotion?" Aura asked, slightly annoyed at the boy, since he stepped on her foot while joining the group.

"Maybe it's because I'm good looking?"

"Doubt that." Leighton grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I've seen Psyducks cuter than you."

"No need to cover up your feelings for me Leighton." Cassius smirked at her and tightened his bandana. "I got this job because I piss off Nate and distract her, plus my Umbreon is strong against her Espeon. Shelly can't have Tabitha and his little grunt beating her. Besides, I'm late because I'm kind of sick.."

"Maybe you should've rested yesterday like Dirk suggested." Ai piped in, earning an approving nod from both Aura and Leighton.

"Getting ganged up on by the girls again, Cassius?" Shelly asked, nearing the four. "You need to learn to just agree with us."

"Realizing that now." Cassius sighed, looking at the group of girls. "You guys aren't fun to mess with."

"That's because we don't have tempers like your little Magma girl." Leighton muttered. Cassius glared at her, but Shelly prevented him from saying anything.

"Speaking of Magma, Cas, I need you and Leighton to get something from the Devon corporation before they get it." Shelly held up a hand at Cassius to shut him up. "Next week. He'll be in Petalburg Forest around 8 am. You two need to leave for the forest later this week to make sure you have plenty of time. This is very important."

"Alright, just give me the details." Cassius nodded, taking the folder from Shelly and flipping through it. "Since this is so easy, I'll leave it to you." Cassius handed off the folder to Leighton and walked off, going to visit Dirk in his lab.

"Hey! You can't leave me to do all the work and research!" Leighton yelled after him, ready to throw a fit.

"Oh, what was that about you not having a temper like my 'little Magma girl' ?" Cassius turned to her and laughed. "See you later!"

* * *

"So you get to go all undercover and pretend to be this Bianca chick?" Rachel asked and spun around in the makeup chair that was next to Nate's. "Lucky."

"How is it lucky? You know what I've been doing for the past three days? Watching videos of her and her fiancé and looking things up online about her all while trying to nurse myself back to health!" Nate complained, trying not to rub her temples, seeing as Brodie just put about twenty pounds of makeup onto her face. "Not to mention the folder of information about her Brodie gave me this morning…" Nate flipped through the many papers that were in the folder and sighed. "I don't see how anyone can do this."

"Relax, it will be easy." Brodie said, coming into the room. "Don't break that chair Rachel." The girl stopped spinning abruptly and pouted at the purple haired man. "I let you hide in here to get out of work, you should be thanking me."

"I said thanks. I was going to come in here whether you liked it or not. Hey, does Tabitha know you're doing this mission?"

"Oh, I knew I forgot something." Brodie chuckled, wondering how mad Tabitha would be once Brodie told him he would be stealing away his grunt for a week.

"You forgot to tell him!? Brodie!" Nate turned to look at him in the chair with a horrified look on her dolled up face. "Oh he's going to be so pissed…"

"Brodie! Where are my grunts?!" Tabitha stormed down the hallway, heading towards Brodie's room. "I know you have them!" He slammed open the door and stared at the two girls, not recognizing Nate for a few moments. "W-What the hell have you done with Nate?"

"Do I look ugly!?" Nate asked, looking in the mirror in front of her.

"No, of course not, you just don't look like yourself! Why doesn't she look like herself?" He looked to Brodie for the answer.

"Undercover mission, didn't Maxie tell you?" Brodie asked and explained the mission to Tabitha within a few minutes. "So, I will be needing your little sidekick for the rest of this week and next week."

"Why did you wait until now to tell me? We have an important mission next week! I need her with me."

"A little separation never hurt anyone, pick a new sidekick." Brodie shrugged and laughed as Tabitha resisted throwing something at him.

"Me!" Rachel raised her hand, excitement all over her face. "C'mon Commander, I can be your temporary sidekick!"

"I guess so." Tabitha sighed, knowing he had no other good options. "You better return her in one piece and healthy." He told Brodie and opened the door.

"I can take much better care of her than you do when you go on missions with her. She'll be back in perfect condition." Brodie smirked, hitting Tabitha with a low blow, knowing he was still mad at himself for leaving Nate behind on their last mission, resulting in her getting sick and missing work for three days.

"Rachel, let's go, now." He growled through gritted teeth. Rachel gave Nate a smile and jogged out of the room, not wanting to make Tabitha any angrier than he already was. The commander slammed the door shut as he left, and Nate hit Brodie's shoulder.

"What the hell Brodie? Why would you say that to him? It wasn't his fault that I got sick!"

"He deserved it, and stop hitting me. You can't do that at all next week. Bianca and Hugh are very affectionate and loving towards each other."

"I noticed…" Nate grumbled, referring to some of the tapes of the couple together. "They're always holding hands and sneaking kisses, it's disgusting."

"Well you better get used to it, because that's what we're going to have to do if we want to keep our cover. " Brodie said and Nate's face turned red. "Don't be embarrassed, it'll be simple. I'm not a horrible kisser."

"I-I have to kiss you!? No, I quit!" She frowned and Brodie rolled his eyes and started to play with her hair, readying it to be put up in a tight bun so he could put her wig on.

"Nate, you will have to kiss someone in your lifetime, be happy it's with someone as great as me."

"And as modest.." She said sarcastically, before she looked up at him. "…sweetie."

"Much better. You'll get the hang of this in no time, but we might have to practice."

"Practice?!"

"The first time you kiss me can't be in front of a camera Nate. It would be awkward and look very fake. This mission is important and if we fail it because of you, it won't make Tabitha look good, will it?"

"Stop bringing him into everything. I get it; we can practice a few times I guess, but not just kissing."

"Of course not, you need help in all aspects of being part of a couple."

"Gee, thanks…"

* * *

"Is there any new missions going on?" Jordan asked Mikhail through his ear piece.

"Nope, Commander is just making us newbies train, haven't seen Nate around here either. Last I heard she was home sick." Mikhail said.

"One here. It'll just be Cassius and I on this one." Leighton chimed in, going through her folder again. "Seems like a very important one too, but he just tossed the folder at me and told me to research it and study it."

"Doesn't sound too important if he's letting a grunt study it." Ian said, overhearing what Leighton told them both. "But still, I was upset that they got away last time, I at least want to get Cassius this time."

"You better, I'm so sick of being his lackey!" Leighton whined, stomping her foot. "Cassius just goofs off and smart mouths off to me."

"You probably deserve it…" Mikhail muttered.

"Oh shut up!" Leighton ordered in a threatening tone. Mikhail rolled his eyes as the door to the room he was in slammed open.

"Do ten laps!" Tabitha's voice rang over all the ear pieces, making the group groan.

"Boss is back, got to go." Mikhail said and left the conversation to start jogging with the rest of his group.

"Hey, Leighton, where are you?" Cassius asked from the hallway.

"Tell us about the mission later." Jordan told her and she felt the earpiece shut off.

"Here." Leighton came out of her room with the folder in her hands.

"You've been studying that for almost a week now; think you know it well enough?" Cassius took it from her hands and she wanted to reach out and take it back. She had actually been trying to tan and relax the past few days, but she couldn't tell him that. "Guess I'll just flip through it when we get to Petalburg tonight…"

"B-but sir, that will give you tonight and tomorrow to study it.."

"Leighton, you know how long I've been in Team Aqua?" Cassius gave her a bored expression. She shook her head. "About three or four years now. You know how many missions like this I've been on?" Again, she shook her head. "About ten. The only things that change are location, item you're stealing, and who you're stealing it from. I could do this blindfolded, that's why I'm letting you spend most of your time with the folder. Make sure you're ready, I'll come by to get you at ten tonight." And with that, Cassius was walking away from her, folder in hand and Leighton out of luck.

* * *

**Sorry if this sounds like a filler chapter. The next few should be more interesting, but I had to get this stuff out of the way. I think I got almost every character submitted to the story mentioned in this chapter, except for maybe two. Yes! Have a happy New Years everyone!**


	16. Chapter 17

**I only have like, a week left until my school break is over. Ew.  
**

* * *

"Cassius?" Leighton whispered, peeking through the bushes while they waited in Petalburg Woods for the Devon Corp. worker.

"Hm?"

"You always complain about work and how long you've been doing this and how you can't wait until it's over. Why do you either bother staying?"

"Because, believe it or not I used to believe in Team Aqua's goal." Cassius admitted, a little embarrassed. "My parents left to work in Kanto and Johto when I was young, so it's only been my gramps and I. I was such a water boy, still am, and when you run into a group that loves the sea just as much you and they're willing to treat you like you're family, when you don't reall have one yourself, well, you end up joining them."

"When did you stop believing?"

"When I saw them beat up a defenseless girl that did nothing to them." Cassius mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and tried to focus on the task at hand. "I started to believe again, but I stopped the second I saw what the girl became after a few years. She's absolutely terrifying." Cassius said with a small smirk, but shook his head. "We pushed her to become terrifying. It's not entirely our fault, but she could've done something more..."

"You know her?"

"Yup."

"Who is she?"

"Not now, our target is here...and..he has..company?" Cassius peeked through the bushes, confused. The man with the package was there, but so was a girl with long brown hair, a boy with spiky blond hair, and...Lily? "Commander...there seems to be a problem. There's a group with our target."

"What?" Shelly said through the radio. "Get the package if you can!"

"Alright, Crobat, come out. " Cassius stood up and called out his pokemon. "Where do you think you're going, Mr. Walters?" Cassius stuck his hands in his pockets and came out of his hiding spot, scaring his target. Leighton called out her Piplup and joined him, trying to look tough.

"N-Not again." Lily whined, hanging her head in despair. The brunette girl gave Cassius a harsh look and got in front of Lily in a protective stance. Cassius would come and ruined their mission right when it started!

"I got you, don't worry." Nate said to Lily and Cassius looked at her. She sounded kind of like Nate and her eyes...they looked like Nate's, but, she didn't have the scar on her cheek and other than the voice and eyes, she didn't resemble her at all. "I can handle this one~!" She said with a wink, trying to stay in character, and called out a Roserade.

"Ms. Bianca, please, these guys are serious!" Mr. Walters said. Brodie rolled his eyes.

"I think we can handle them." He smiled at Nate. "Let's go Weavile!"

"Mr. Hugh, please!"

"Mr. Walters, relax, Bianca and I can handle this." Brodie put his hands in his pockets and Nate flipped her hair and smirked at Cassius and Leighton. "Weavile, get them out of our way."

"Roserade, show them what you can do!"

Their pokemon clashed and Cassius frowned, annoyed that this mission just went from easy to difficult, seeing as Hugh and Bianca's pokemon were quite strong. "Leighton, if we have to retreat, head to Rustburo."

"W-What sir?" She asked. They couldn't leave yet! Ian and Jordan weren't here yet to catch him! "Piplup, bubblebeam!" She ordered, but her pokemon was smacked by a razor leaf from Bianca's roserade. Okay, maybe they could leave, she realized that going against a roserade was not the greatest idea.

"I didn't expect them to have company, we're outnumbered and the cops will be here at any moment. Crobat, return!" He called back his pokemon and so did Leighton. "You got lucky this time, we'll be back." Cassius threatened, and took off into the woods with Leighton right behind him.

"Knew we could handle it." Brodie returned his pokemon and Nate did as well. "Good job, sweetie." Brodie grabbed Nate's hand and kissed her on the cheek. She forced a loving smile and tried to not pull away from his touch.

"I'm glad you scared him off. He held me hostage last time I ran into him!" Lily told Nate. "So did this other girl, but she was part of Team Magma. The first time I met them, they were nice to me, I don't see why they turned."

"I'm sure they didn't mean to do that to you." Nate told her and patted her back. "They just had to look out for themselves. You said you were a fan, right? I would love to see your moves once we got to Rustburo."

"Really?" Lily perked up and Nate smiled at her and nodded her head. She felt Brodie squeeze her hand in approval, meaning she was doing a great job.

"Yes, of course. I love to see the moves my fans have." Nate nodded her head and they started to head to Rustburo City.

* * *

"Are we just going back to the base empty handed?" Leighton asked and took off her bandana as they rushed into the city. Cassius took his off and ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. "We have to. Nowhere in the mission folder did it say those people were going to be with him.."

"Bianca Wint and Hugh Stone?" Leighton asked and he gave her a questioning look. "Bianca is from my hometown of SunyShore in the Sinnoh region. She's a famous coordinator and the fiancé of Hugh Stone."

"_That_ Stone?"

"Yup."

"Urg, of course." Cassius grumbled as they trotted through the city. "This stuff always happens to me, we'll have to figure out another way to get it from them. Let's head to Verdanturf for now."

Leighton would have preferred to stay in Rustburo, where Ian and Jordan were, but Cassius wouldn't have it and since he was near her, she couldn't talk to them. Not like it mattered, they didn't have the earpiece on. They continued to trot through the city until they got out of it and slowed to a walk, heading straight for the Rustburo/VerdanTurf tunnel.

"Skittyyyyyy!" A high pitched whine cried out and Cassius stopped in his tracks and looked around. He spotted the pink pokemon hidden in the grass. It looked pretty beat up and weak. It cried out again and Cassius picked it gently, trying not to hurt it anymore than it already was.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't leave it here. The last time I left someone that was beat up and needed help, I regretted it for years after it. I won't let it happen again." He informed Leighton and held the skitty close to his chest and broke out into a jog towards the tunnel and Leighton jogged after him.

* * *

"I was so nervous during your last contest! I was worried that you weren't going to win!" Lily told Nate with big eyes.

"Oh, so was I. It was a very tough battle." Nate told her, remembering watching the battle on tv with her mother a few weeks ago.

"I was worried too, but Bianca definitely doesn't go down without a fight." Brodie smirked and Lily laughed. "Not that that's a bad thing." He told Nate, who was pouting at him but smiled at him anyway. Bianca smiled too much. It was hurting Nate's face. Being all in love with Brodie was a pain in the ass too. It would be easier if it was Tabitha.

"That's right." Nate told him and poked his arm.

"Your father wants to meet with you once we get to the Corporation." Mr. Walters told Brodie.

"Of course, I would like to see how he's doing. Is Steven going to be there as well?"

"No, he's off in some cave digging up rocks.." Mr. Walters sighed and Brodie grinned. One less person he had to deal with.

"Honey, are you going to want to come with me?" He asked Nate.

"Yes, your father is so wonderful! Lily, are you staying in Rustburo City? I would love to spend more time with you later." Nate smiled at Lily and she nodded her head eagerly.

"Yes, I'm going to be staying at the pokemon center for a few days."

"That's great, I'll see what I'll be doing while I'm in town this week and I'll call you to let you know." Bianca said and got Lily's number. The blonde girl skipped off, extremely happy.

"Is it okay if Bianca and I take a little walk around town before visiting my father?" Brodie asked Mr. Walters.

"Yes, that's alright. I'm heading back to the corp. though, I need to get this package to them before I get ambushed again!" With that, the man ran away from the two.

"You're doing extremely well. I'm surprised you're being so nice to Lily." Brodie said to Nate, who ran a few fingers through her brunette wig.

"Bianca is extremely nice to her fans, and I feel bad for using Lily as a shield last time we met." Nate explained. "Gotta stay in character."

"I know that, I am the man of a thousand faces."

"People really call you that?"

"Yup, I'm famous." Brodie grinned and they headed towards the corporation. "Just remain calm, Lily and Walter were easy to fool, the father, maybe not. Let me handle it."

"Fine by me, sweetie."

* * *

"Hugh!" Mr. Stone hugged Brodie, buying his act, and then hugged Nate, happy to see both of them. "Do you know a date for the wedding?"

"Oh, not yet. We haven't even decided on a season." Nate joked, making Mr. Stone laugh. "We will let you know as soon as we do decided on a date."

"You better. I'm glad you two could make it to this revealing on our brand new product. It's actually pretty special." Mr. Stone went on to ramble about the product and Nate zoned out, knowing that it was not important to them, it was probably a new type of pokenav, and Brodie would pay attention for her.

"Ready to go see the city, honey?" Brodie pulled her out of her thoughts and she nodded her head. They left the building and walked around the city.

"How many more days of this?" Nate asked, letting go of Brodie's hand.

"6. Why'd you let go of my hand?"

"My hand was getting sweaty, sorry." She mumbled and wiped her hand on her shorts and grabbed his hand again. "This is so weird. People are staring.." She mumbled, giving Brodie a sideways looked. She could barely tell it was him with his wig and different clothing on, but when he gave her a sideways glance back, she knew it was him. "Did they think it was weird that I let go of your hand?"

"No, they probably think it's funny that you let go of my hand to wipe in on your shorts, I know I do." He chuckled and Nate looked at him, then remembered that she was suppose to be acting as someone else, and started to pout at him like Bianca did often. "Awah, don't pout at me now, sweetie."

"Better than punching you in the face." She said through gritted teeth and smiled at him.

"I really hope Bianca wears off on you, you sound too much like your commander."

"Stop bringing him up."

"I can't help it, you sound and act like he does half the time." He smirked and Nate's face grew red. "I shouldn't be so surprised that you act and sound like him though, he's been taking you everywhere with him since you joined. I don't see how you stand being around him so much."

"He wonders how I can stand being around you or how I can stand to kiss you and hold your hand so much."

"He's just jealous. He's furious that I took you away for myself~" Brodie chuckled and put him arm around Nate and she laughed too, acting as if he had told a joke. "People around here know us, so don't let the act drop."

"Wasn't planning on it." She smiled back at him, wondering if she could keep this up. Her face was starting to ache.

* * *

**Ha, another chapter! Hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter out before my break is up! Also, I have to ask, if I did another story with Cas and Nate in it, would you guys be interested in it? It's based off of another story I had, but deleted because I didn't like it anymore. I'll probably take characters for it, or just you know, use y'alls instead of asking for new ones because I like a lot of the characters that were submitted to me and many of them would go so well in the new story. **

**The whole time I typed this, I listened to 'Bombshell Blonde' by Owl City because it reminds me of Cassius and Nate.  
**


	17. Chapter 18

**I actually already had this whole chapter planned out, well, the start of this chapter, before the last chapter was even posted. Haha! Working on my planning skills~!**

* * *

Nate watched as her bellossom tried to dodge Lily's froslass' attacks, but failed miserably. The little grass typed was knocked out by a strong blizzard attack.

Nate was a little baffled by the fact that she had lost, which, technically, she hadn't lost, Bianca had lost.

That wasn't the point though.

She hadn't lost a battle in a while. She was expecting to win this one. Did she really become so confident in herself and her Pokémon that she expected to win every battle she entered?

Oh groudon, how arrogant.

All she ever went up against were weak Magma and Aqua grunts. So was it really her fault she had become arrogant?

Okay, yeah, yeah it was.

What was worse was that she was expecting Lily's Pokémon to be weak. They weren't, at all. Her Wartortle put up a great fight against her Roserade in the previous round, and Lily's zorua had taken out her Kirlia before Nate could really get into the battle.

Yeah, she was seriously becoming arrogant.

"That was a great battle!" Nate said and shook Lily's hand as they stood on the empty beach late in the afternoon. After spending a day stuck in a stuffy room with business men, Nate was over the moon about Lily wanting to battle on the beach, even if she did hate the ocean.

It's sad when Nate is excited to go to the beach.

"Thank you!" Lily said with a smile. "I can't believe I won."

"Why can't you believe it? Your Pokémon are very strong." Nate complimented Lily and her froslass, knowing that it was exactly what Bianca would do if she had lost a battle.

"Thanks, they are the best." She rubbed her Pokémon's head and returned it to its pokeball. "So where is Hugh?"

"Ah, probably with his father, discussing new products the company is working on." Nate said, hoping she was right. This was their second day here, they only had three more to go, and they needed as much information as possible before their time was up.

"Ah, both of you are probably very busy." Lily said, slightly saddened by this. She wanted to spend more time with Bianca; she was so nice!

"Ah, Hugh is, but I'm not. I was hoping you wanted to grab some lunch, my treat of course." Nate asked and Lily's face lit up.

"R-Really?! Yes! That would be great!" Lily cheered and pulled Bianca to a restaurant that she had read about in a guide book. "This restaurant is supposed to be very yummy and has a great lunch menu."

"Fine by me, Hugh is paying for this." Nate smirked, wondering if Brodie knew that giving Nate his card after they had gotten into an argument in the morning was probably a bad idea. They got a tabled and flipped through the menu before ordering.

"I was worried that this region wasn't so friendly." Lily admitted as they waited for their food. "Team Magma and Aqua were seriously starting to ruin my little adventure."

"Team Aqua ruins everything.." Nate muttered, thinking of Cassius and his stupid face and stupid hair.

But he hair was actually pretty cool.

It was still stupid though.

"It just freaks me out how they could be anywhere and I wouldn't even know it. Plus, who wants to destroy all the land? And who would want to destroy all the water? I get they wanna make more land or make more water, but, that's a little impossible. Nature does all that for us." Lily sipped on her water.

"That's exactly what I think." Nate agreed. It was exactly what she thought. Team Magma and Aqua's plans were stupid, she knew this, however, she hated Aqua and she needed to make sure her dad was safe, so on Team Magma she would stay. Besides, what else would she do? Traveling was a little lonely for her and she didn't think she could pull off being a coordinator at all, but she didn't want to get stuck in a mundane life either.

Urg, life choices.

"I'm sure someone will do something about them and stop them before it gets too serious." Lily said and smiled as their waiter brought them their food. "This looks so good, let's dig in!"

* * *

Leighton threw a pillow at Cassius, hoping it would wake him up. He coughed and turned in the bed so his back was to her.

"What do you want." Cassius grumbled, not wanting to get out of the bed.

"Shelly called, time to get back to the base." Leighton explained and Cassius got out of bed, groaning. They left their room and headed to the lobby of the pokemon center to pick up their pokemon they had left with Nurse Joy the previous night. She handed over their pokeballs and the skitty jumped into Cassius' arms after he put his pokeballs away.

"What the hell?" He asked and the skitty rubbed against his chest.

"I think she wants to come with you." Nurse Joy said with a smile. "She's been running around all morning waiting for you."

"Aw, how sweet." Leighton cooed.

"Do you really want to come with me, skitty?" Cassius asked and the pink pokemon nodded his head. He sighed, not happy about it, but pulled out an empty pokeball and trapped the skitty inside. "Guess I caught a skitty." He said, unenthusiastic about having such a girly pokemon in his party. He and Leighton headed outside and called out the swellows they had borrowed from the base and flew off to Lilycove. "You say one word or make fun of me for having the damn skitty, you have to scrub the floors!"

"Ew!" Leighton whined. She hated hard labor. She was allergic to it.

She had a doctor's note to prove it.

* * *

Rachel watched Esther fumble with her pokeball before calling out her Vulpix against Aura's glaceon

Why?

Why oh why did she volunteer herself to take Nate's place?

She thought it would be fun.

It wasn't.

It was irritating and Esther was so nervous but she was trying, groudon help her she was _trying _to be a good grunt, while Mikhail was _trying_ to make Rachel's life hell, she was sure of it. Mikhail called out one of his houndooms against Ai's muk and leapt into battle happily.

Tabitha had run off to beat Shelly to the item they were after and now she and Cassius were watching each other, wondering who would make a move first.

"Where's Nate?" Cassius asked, slightly disappointed that the blonde wasn't there.

"Sorry waterboy, she's on another mission, looks like you're stuck with me." Rachel smirked, having fun poking at the male."C'mon out Trickster!" She yelled, calling out her chandelure.

"I guess it's not so bad. Long as I'm with a cute girl, doesn't matter to me." He smirked and winked at her before tossing a pokeball into the air. "Crobat, let's finish this quickly."

"If you think that this will be an easy win, you've got another thing coming!" Rachel balled her hand into a fist.

"Crobat, confuse ray!"

"Deflect, Trickster!" The chandler pokemon deflected the confuse ray. It bounced off of it and hit Aura's glaceon.

"Glaceon, are you okay?" Aura asked, worried about her pokemon. "Use blizzard!" The pokemon twirled around and sent out the blizzard. The storm hit Ai's muk and it barreled towards Cassius, hitting him and sending chills up and down his spine. "Cassius, I'm sorry!" She called out. "Glaceon, snap out of it! Hit it with an icy wind!" The pokemon steadied itself and sent out a powerful icy wind. "W-Wrong direction!" Aura cried out, feeling some of the attack.

"That's freezing!" Mikhail yelled at her, rubbing his arms.

"Return it!" Cassius ordered, feeling the wind hit his already snow covered body. Aura mouthed an apology while returning her pokemon. She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and called out her vapereon, knowing she would now have the type advantage.

"Aw, water boy is now ice boy." Rachel joked and Mikhail laughed as well. Cassius shook off the snow and ice that covered him and glared at Aura for making him a Cas-sicle.

"C-C-Crobat," Cassius shivered, hoping his body would warm up soon. "Use air s-slash!" He ordered and the pokemon sent the wind attack straight at Rachel's pokemon. It hit it and the pokemon tumbled backwards, but it quickly regained its balanced again.

"Inferno, trickster!" Rachel said with a concentrated expression and the pokemon spent a spiral of fire towards crobat.

"Okay vapereon, take that vulpix down!" Aura smiled. Esther frowned as a ball of water hit her vulpix head on.

"Vulpix!" Esther called and her pokemon yipped at her, letting it know it was okay.

"You better end the battle fast Esther!" Mikhail told her. "Feniks, flamethrower!" His pokemon growled and sent the fire attack straight at Ai's muk.

"Dodge and use sludge bomb!" Ai ordered. Her muk was able to get out of the direct line of fire and attack with the sludge bomb before it was hit with another flamethrower Mikhail ordered.

"Fall back; we got what we came here for!" Shelly ran by them and straight onto the Team Aqua air craft. The Aqua members returned their pokemon and ran onto the aircraft, well, Ai and Aura ran and dragged Cassius along with them, since he was still too cold to move fast enough.

"Damn!" Rachel stomped her foot, as is flew off. "We almost had them!"

"Commander isn't going to be too pleased..." Esther murmured, looking at Rachel with a worried expression.

"When is he ever pleased?" Mikhail asked with his hands in his pockets. "He's all grumpy because Nate is still sick and it's throwing him off."

Rachel opened her mouth to correct him, but then remembered that Nate and Brodie's mission was top secret, she wasn't even supposed to know about it.

* * *

"What happened?" Shelly asked as they flew back to the base. Cassius was wrapped up in a blanket, trying to warm himself up.

"I got h-hit with a blizzard and icy wind by Aura's confused p-pokemon." He grumbled, sneezing. "I just got over my sore throat and n-now it's coming back."

"It was an accident." Aura said. The rest of the ride back was quite, except for Cassius' occasionally coughs.

"Just take him back to his house and report back here when you're done." She told Aura as they landed and got off of the aircraft.

"Yes ma'am." She nodded her head and helped Cassius out of the base.

"You don't have to help me you know." Cassius said and called out his Gyarados to take them to the beach of Lilycove. The sun was setting on the beach as the approached the shore, and luckily the beach was empty. He called back his pokemon and Aura helped him back to his house. His grandpa was still at the shipyard, thankfully.

"Just change into pjs and get to bed, okay? Someone will come by to check back up on you tomorrow." Aura told him and covered her eyes when he started to undress. "A-At least wait until I leave!"

"I have boxers on; they're practically the same as swimtrunks." He argued, staring at her before sneezing.

"I don't care! I'll see you later!" She ran out of his house quickly, not feeling so guilty about getting him sick anymore.

* * *

Nate grumbled as the morning sun came through the slightly opened blinds. She turned her back to the window and pulled her pillow closer, wanting to go back to sleep.

"Wake up sweetie." Brodie chuckled, shaking her.

"This sweetie doesn't wanna wake up." She yawned and tried to swipe his hand.

"Well sweetie you take forever to get ready and it won't be good if we're late."

Nate hated it when Brodie made a good argument. She got out of bed and trudged to the bathroom to get ready. "What are we doing today?"

"There's a press conference in the afternoon, not too important, since it'll be aired on tv. Luckily there's no big event or red carpet for this new product. I found out about the device that can turn fossils into pokemon. I recorded most of what he said, but he said he'll show me more around the lab tomorrow. I need to send the recording to the boss and to Hugh so he'll be caught up on everything." Brodie mumbled the last sentence to himself to help him remember.

"So we'll have to spend all today together?"

"Yes. I'm sorry; it means you won't have any time you hang out with your friend."

"Lily? She's not my friend." Nate said and washed her face to help wake her up.

"Natalie, you can be honest with me. I know you like hanging out with her, or you wouldn't do it. Bianca wouldn't even do it, so don't use her as an excuse." Brodie said and walked into the bathroom to put on his makeup.

Nate shot him a sour look and glared at herself in the mirror while she smeared some make up on her cheek to hide her scar. Sure, Lily was actually sort of pleasant to be around, it was different than what she usually surrounded herself with. She was happy, she didn't have to worry about being seen by police or what to do once her job was done and she was no longer needed, because she didn't have a job or team or any reason to be hunted by the police. That's why she was happy.

Nate was happy. She convinced herself as she continued to put on makeup. She was, she enjoyed what she did, and she liked being a part of Team Magma. She just didn't know what she was supposed to do after it was all over. That made her worry.

"Lily isn't friends with me, she's friends with Bianca." Nate muttered, finishing her skin makeup and starting on her eyes. "Don't distract me, okay? I might poke myself in the eye with this mascara wand."

"Fine fine, I just like to know my coworkers."

"You like to harass them."

"You really need to stop talking like Tabitha."

"You really need to stop bringing him up, okay?" She said sharply, looking at him. She just wanted to stop thinking about it all ending. She wanted to go back to following Tabitha around on every mission filled with excitement and joy. The older she got, the more she thought about it all ending.

Whatever, she would figure it out. She always did.

"Don't act like you hate it, I know how you feel about him." Brodie smirked and put his wig on.

"S-Shut up!" Nate blushed, really not wanting to talk about this.

"Look, you're in a much better mood now, aren't you?" He asked. "I know what you were thinking about, I think about it all the time. Things have to end, but they aren't ending now, so don't worry about it. You still have time to win over your commander." He laughed and Nate put on her brunette wig quickly and brushed it out. She stomped out of the bathroom and into the closest to find something to wear. "Don't get all pouty with me, even though it's kinda cute. I bet Tabitha thinks it's cute too. Me taking you away for a while is a good thing, he's going to happy when you come back."

"You think so?" Nate asked, slipping on a yellow sundress. "Really?" She peeked her head into the bathroom with a curious expression.

"Yes, I do. You really have Bianca down." He said, surprised by her sudden change of mood and attitude. "Maybe she's rubbing off on you."

"Too bad Hugh isn't rubbing off on you, honey."

* * *

"Oh, hello, I'm Leighton, one of Cassius' friends. How is he doing?" Leighton asked when his grandfather answered the door. She was sent to check up on Cassius, seeing as she was under his command.

"Nice to meet you Leighton! He's still sick and being whiney. He's right up the stairs, the first door on your right. He has a high fever, so I'm not sure if he's all there. He thought I was his Gyarados earlier…" He told her. She thanked him and hurried up the stairs. "Hey, Cassius?" Leighton knocked on the door and opened it when she heard him groan. "You okay?"

"Hm." He mumbled, curled up in his bed. His hair was more messy than usual and his skin was pale. "Fine." He coughed out and sat up. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" She asked and sat on his bed and felt his forehead. "Woah, you're hot."

"I know." He chuckled and she rolled her eyes. "How did you know I was sick?"

"They told me. I knew you should have rested after Dirk found you in the rain. Maybe then you could've gotten this whole sickness out of your system. " She explained, looking at him. He seemed to in the right mind, but something about the way he was looking at her seemed off. He seemed, surprised and confused, like he couldn't understand why she was there, even though she just told him. "Cas? Are you there?"

"Yeah." He mumbled, his voice rough. "I missed you yesterday." She furrowed her eyebrows and was now the one with a confused expression. She had seen him yesterday morning, what was he talking about? "It's no fun when you aren't there to annoy. You know, I saw someone that reminded me of you. She had the same eyes as you."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know right? She even seemed annoyed to see me, like you usually look when I show up." Cassius laughed a little bit but then rubbed his throat and took a big sip of water out of a cup on his night stand. "I'm going back to sleep, I feel like crap."

"Yeah, uh, Cassius?"

"Yeah?"

"Who am I?"

"Nate, of course." He gave her a small smile and laid back down to go to sleep.

"I'll see you later, get well soon." She mumbled, leaving his room quietly.

Well, it was better than being mistaken for a gyarados.

"He's still out of it."She told his grandpa and left, wondering if she should tell anyone what just happened or not. He was nicer to her, nicer than he usually was to Leighton, but maybe it was just his fever? She didn't know and she wasn't sure she ever would.

* * *

**Okay, this one is like, way longer than my other chapters, yay! **

**Anyway, if I did start the other story, this one here would be the one I would update the most and work on the most, since I have more fans on this one. The other story would be really different than this one. Has Team Magma and Aqua in it, and has Nate and Cas in it, but they won't act the same as they do in this story. Like I said before, it's a major redo of one of my older stories that I didn't like too much, but loved the concept of it. I haven't even started on the other story because I wanted to finish this chapter and this one is more important, so the new story probably won't be posted for a while. **

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! I love to read what you have to say about the story! If you have any ideas, don't hesitate to tell me!**


	18. Chapter 19

**Sorry for taking so long with this chapter! School kept me really really busy! For the people who just submitted characters, I need you to send me a pm because I don't accept characters from guest reviewers. Also, I actually stopped taking characters a few chapters back, but I'll accept your characters if you send me a message and show me you have an account.**

* * *

Tabitha watched the Devon Corp. press conference on the television with slight irritation. Many grunts were gathered around the tv and watching it as well, while others were playing pool or playing pin ball in the rec room. Their volume level was the reason for his irritation, plus, the fact that his last mission ended horribly added to it.

"Why are we watching this?" Mikhail asked, blowing hair out of his face. "This is boring."

"Because, it's important to us!" Rachel told him. "We might have to steal whatever they're creating." She knew why they were watching it. They might see Nate. Even if she was dolled up as someone else, seeing her would put Tabitha at ease, so Rachel guarded the remote with her life.

"But why do we have to watch thisssssss?" He groaned, not interested in it at all.

"Just shut up." Tabitha grumbled, rubbing his temples. Good thing Maxie was watching this up in his office and was able to pay attention to what was going on, because Tabitha could barely hear a word that was being said. He really was only interested in seeing if the camera would show Nate and Brodie, he doubted it, but whatever.

The press conference ended a few minutes later with no signs of Brodie or Nate at all. Some girls reached for remote, wanting to change it to another station. Rachel tossed it onto the coffee table, not caring anymore. One successfully got it and flipped channels, landing on an entertainment channel that had just finished showing the press conference and had an interviewer talking about something or other that didn't interest Tabitha at all.

"Oh, we have Bianca Wint coming our way! Hello Bianca! Janey from P.E., Pokemon Entertainment!" The blue haired girl said and the camera went straight to Nate.

That perked an interest.

"Hello, how are you doing? You wouldn't mind if I asked you some quick questions, right?"

"I'm good, thank you. I wouldn't mind at all!" Nate smiled at the interviewer and then at the camera man.

"Bianca! She's so pretty!" A girl grunt said, smiling at the screen.

"She's pretty hot." Mikhail said and Tabitha hit him on the back of the head, giving him a warning look. Mikhail didn't know that the girl on the screen was actually Nate. No one but Maxie, Rachel, Nate's father and Tabitha himself knew that it was her. Mikhail pouted at him but kept his mouth shut as the interviewer and Nate talked for a few minutes before Brodie joined them.

"I was wondering where you ran off to." Brodie smiled at Nate and took her hand in his before giving her a quick kiss.

Tabitha rolled his eyes. Was that really necessary?

"Ah, Hugh! Great to see you again." The interviewer beamed at the two of them. "So, we want to know, what are the wedding plans so far?"

"None yet really." Nate said, unsure of the actual wedding plans. "We can't even agree on a season to have it in yet."

Tabitha zoned out during the rest of the interview, not interested in the lies Brodie and Nate were telling the interviewer. He just watched as their mouths moved and they glanced at each other, acting like real couple, not a couple of criminals pretending to be people they weren't. He couldn't wait for this to be over so Nate would be back and Brodie would keep his hands off of her. He knew that it was part of the mission, but he didn't want Nate to start liking it. What if she decided she liked playing dress up with Brodie more than she liked being Tabitha's sidekick on missions?

He didn't want that. He wanted Nate to stay with him. He didn't want her to be running around with Brodie, he wanted her to be with someone who look after her and make sure she didn't get herself in to trouble, like he had been doing for the past few years. He didn't trust Brodie with Nate at all and it was putting him on edge.

* * *

"It was great seeing you again, but we've got to get going." Brodie told the interviewer as politely as he could. They said goodbye and hurried off making Nate sigh.

"Gah, my face feels frozen in a permanent smile." Nate complained, rubbing her cheeks.

"That's pretty sad. It was only ten minutes. Do you really not smile that much?" Brodie asked as they began to walk back to their hotel.

"I do smile a lot." Nate grumbled, realizing she really only did when she was with Tabitha. Every other time it was a smirk, never an actual smile. That was sad.

"I never see it."

"Well I don't smile when you're around." Nate said with a chuckle and looked around at the city. She jumped when she felt something in her purse vibrate. She pulled her pokégear out of her purse and checked it, seeing she had a new message. She flipped the device open and read the text on it. She got a big smile on her face and typed a quick reply before shutting the device and putting it back in her purse. "He said good job."

Brodie could only guess one person that could make her smile like that so easily.

"He doesn't say that much." She continued with a smile on her face.

"How can he make you so happy with such small praise?" Brodie asked.

"Because, when his team found me that day, beaten up and weak, he didn't want to waste time on me. He just wanted to dump me off in the town. Then, when I got in and was put on his team, he didn't think anything of me other than an annoyance."

"Now, you are way too important to lose." Brodie finished for her.

"I wasn't going to say that exactly..." She said. "I was just going to say that I showed how useful and helpful I could actually be."

"He's known that for years, Nate." Brodie said and squeezed her hand. "He's just too stubborn to admit those types of things. He's probably wanted to communicate with you in some way since we left. He doesn't trust me with you."

"I don't blame him. He shouldn't be worrying about me though, I'm fine."

"Nate, you've gotten yourself lost with an aqua grunt and sat out in the rain for hours and have gotten sick. You haven't been taking care of yourself lately. Besides, it doesn't matter if you're okay or not, he's going to worry about you." Brodie explained to her. "He's always going to be thinking about you, whether you're standing right next to him or a hundred miles away."

"Why?"

"Because, Nate." Brodie stopped and looked at her with a serious expression. "You really don't know?"

"No, why would I know?" She asked, confused. What the hell was he talking about?

"He loves you."

* * *

Cassius yawned and stretched, trying to wake himself up. He still wasn't feeling too well, but his fever had gone down and he could think straight now.

"Finally up?" Dirk asked, peeking into his room before coming in completely. He grabbed Cas' desk chair and turned it to face his bed and sat down. "Leighton said you were burning up yesterday."

"My fever has gone down a lot." Cassius took a sip of his water and looked at his friend. "She came to check up on me?"

"Yes, however, she said you mistook her for someone else." Dirk's face grew serious and Cassius wanted to crawl under his covers. "You thought she was Nate."

"What?" Cassius asked, shaking his head.

"She said you were acting like you do around Nate and that you called her Nate." Dirk explained.

"I really wasn't feeling so well..." Cassius told him, hoping his friend would just forget about what happened. He knew Dirk hated Team Magma and he didn't really like Nate too much either. It didn't help that he was sure that Dirk thought he had a 'thing' for Nate.

Which he totally didn't.

Well, okay, he sorta did, but he knew of her feelings for her commander, so there was no point in trying.

"I don't even remember much of what happened yesterday." Cassius said.

"That doesn't matter, Cassius. You thought she was Nate. Ai and Aimi told me that you were disappointed that you didn't run into Nate on the mission yesterday." He looked at his friend and shook his head, wondering how deep he really was in this mess. "You don't see yourself when you're around her. I however, have. You never stop smiling and you don't even get mad at her for insulting you with every word she says."

"I'm like that with everyone!"

"You don't look at her like you look at everyone else! You have this look in your eyes."

"I could be giving you 'the look' and you wouldn't even notice."

"Cassius, I'm being serious here. I don't want her getting you hurt, or worse, killed." Dirk sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Dirk, I'd never let that happen. Look, maybe I do have a slight thing for her…" Cassius admitted with a shrug. "But she hates us and would never trust me, no matter what I did. I don't wanna spend my time trying when I know it'll never work." He said seriously, but then with a playful grin added "Besideeeessss, how horrible would I be if I took this off of the market?" He laughed and pointed at himself, but then sneezed.

"You'd be just terrible." Dirk muttered, handing his friend a tissue.

"Thanks." Cassius said before blowing his nose with the tissue. "I hate being sick. I wanna go out and play."

"No can do, you need to get better before you even think of going outside."

"Fresh air is good for sick people though!"

"Fine." Dirk said, getting up. He opened Cassius' window and sat back down. "Fresh air."

"Not what I meant." Cassius grumbled, but was happy when he felt the sea breeze come in through his now opened window. The smell of the ocean soon invaded his room and Cassius felt better. The smell and sound of the ocean always relaxed him, no matter what.

"So you really did have a thing for her?"

"Yeah, but, that's over with now." Cassius decided, ready to go back to sleep. He didn't want to stay awake and think about it anymore. It sucked, but he had to be realistic. She would never return the same feelings, so why even try? His time was better spent elsewhere.

* * *

Later that night, Nate was sitting on a blanket, staring out at the ocean. She was alone on the beach near Rustburo City for a good half hour until Brodie showed up. He brought another blanket with him that he put around their shoulders as he sat down next to her on her blanket. She scooted closer to him, acting like she wanted him here in case of nosy watchers, including unwanted paparazzi.

The two hadn't spoken much since earlier in the day when Brodie had told her that Tabitha loved her. She couldn't take her mind off of it. Was Brodie really telling her the truth? She wanted to know so badly, but she was also afraid of finding out. She didn't want to get her hopes up, only to have them crushed.

She shivered as the wind blew, so Brodie put and air closer and pulled her in against the side of his warm body. "You okay?"

"Fine." Nate mumbled, watching the waves crash onto the sand. She didn't like the beach, but she couldn't ignore the fact that it had a soothing quality about it. "Just can't wait to take this damn wig off."

"I get what you mean, but it's fun to play dress up, isn't it?"

"I guess.." Nate answered, unsure. It was a nice change of pace to do something like this. To get to dress up, have people love you, and be treated sort of like a princess, instead of running around and doing the dirty work.

"If you wanted, you could come and join me for my other missions where I need a partner." Brodie offered, seeing as she was actually enjoying herself.

"Maybe." Nate said after a while, looking at him. "But not if they'll be people hiding in the bushes, taking pictures and waiting for us to kiss." She glared at the bushes and sand dunes that were a little farther back where the grass started to meet the sand.

"Not our fault that we're pulling this off amazingly." Brodie moved his face closer to hers, smiling. "Only two more days of us acting like we're in love."

"Thank Groudon for that." Nate said, looking him straight in the eyes and forcing a loving smile to be on her face.

"Then you can go and be in love with your commander."

"D-Don't say stuff like that!" She growled. "Just kiss me so they'll have something to take pictures of."

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter seemed short. I thought it would be longer, but it wasn't. Super tired, so please forgive me for any spelling or grammar mistakes you may find! Reviews are always welcomed as well, I'd love to know what you think of the story! **


	19. Chapter 20

**Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been busy with school!**

* * *

Cassius felt something jumping up and down on his chest as he woke up. He opened his eyes and groaned when he saw his skitty staring at him. Once she noticed he was awake she began to jump up and down on his chest awake, happy to see him awake. "I'm up I'm up." He pet skitty as he said this to make her stop jumping. He sat up and she sat in his lap, enjoying the attention he was given her. "Who the hell let you out of your pokeball anyway?" He asked her with slight annoyance. He was tired and wanted to sleep more. Skitty wasn't going to let him go back to sleep, so he decided to get up and go take a shower.

"Skitty, seriously, I'll be out in 10 minutes." He told the pink pokemon when she followed him into the bathroom. She ignored him and sat on the floor until he was done with his shower, then followed him into his room as he searched for clothes to wear. "You're pretty clingy, aren't you?" He asked and she let out a happy yip. "Well I need to get some fresh air, so come on." He scooped her up in his arms and she climbed onto his shoulder as he trotted down the stairs and out his front door.

He headed straight to the beach, which made Skitty very happy. She jumped off his shoulders and ran into the water, making Cassius worry that she was going to swept away by the waves. After a few moments of splashing around, Skitty decided that she didn't like the salt water that much and wanted Cassius to hold her again. "You're spoiled, just like Nate's espeon." He mumbled, but picked her up anyway, getting his shirt wet. "How am I supposed to be evil when I have to carry you around?" He asked her and she just smiled at him.

* * *

Brodie smirked happily after sending a picture to Tabitha. He then shook Nate, who was asleep next to him on the bed. "C'mon, time to get up."

"Seriously?"

"It's like, 11 in the morning. I let you sleep in."

'Nothing planned?"

"Not until later today. " Brodie said. "But you need to get up and get dressed anyway. Lily has called you a couple of times while you were asleep."

"She has?" Nate sat up and rubbed her face, trying to wake herself up. "Man I'm tired..." She grumbled and got out of bed. She shuffled to the bathroom to get ready while Brodie relaxed on the bed.

"Maybe you should've gone to bed early?"

"I can't help it. I like to stay up late. Besides, I had a lot on my mind.." She poked her head out of the bathroom door. "Made it difficult to fall asleep."

"You needed to know that he loves you!"

"Shut up!" Nate told him and slammed the bathroom door shut. She didn't want to hear that now. She had enough to think about.

* * *

Tabitha wanted to throw his pokegear across the room. He really did. Brodie was seriously pissing him off with each message he sent him.

_"Did you see those pictures of Nate and I on the beach last night?"_

_"She's a pretty great kisser." _

_"Oh, but you wouldn't know that. would you?"_

Tabitha massaged his temples and tried to forget Brodie's texts to him. He was just trying to get under his skin. His pokegear dinged again and he glanced down at it to see a new message from Brodie. He knew it was a bad idea, but he opened it anyway. The text revealed a picture of Nate curled up under the covers of a bed and her face buried in a pillow, asleep.

_"Look what I get to wake up to!"_

Brodie was so dead.

* * *

Nate left the hotel an hour later, happy to be away from Brodie. He kept bringing up Tabitha and Nate didn't want to hear about it. It made her face red and her thoughts got jumbled when he spoke about him.

She stopped short when she heard a girl speak about her.

"We have a mission tonight to kidnap Lily, that girl who has been hanging around Bianca lately." Leighton told Ian, Jordan, and Mikhail. "They figured that the two would be together, and if they aren't, they think using Lily as bait for Bianca will work perfectly. Once they get Bianca, they get Hugh and whatever secrets Devon Corp. is hiding."

"We can stop it before it happens." Ian said. "Will Cassius be on this mission?"

"No, he's still sick. I'm not supposed to be on this mission, but I can convince Shelly to let me on. " Leighton said with a nod. "Anything with you Mikhail?"

"Nothing. Nate's been out sick as well and Tabitha has been more of an asshole lately, I'm sick of running laps." Mikhail whined and Jordan hit him over the head, telling him to stop whining.

Nate's eyes grew wide and she raced off to the pokemon center, where she and Lily agreed to meet up at. She saw the blonde standing by the entrance and she slowed to a trot.

"Bianca! Why were you running?" Lily asked and Nate held up a hand, signaling her to let her catch her breath. She couldn't let Lily get kidnapped.

"Lily, I need you to go to Mauville City, now." She said, still panting from the long run. Once she got Lily out of town and somewhere safe, she could tell Tabitha about Mikhail and tell Brodie Team Aqua's plans. What about Leighton? Should she even bother telling Cassius about her?

"Why?"

"Because, I'm not Bianca and you're going to get kidnapped if you stay here." Nate said honestly. "Don't freak out, okay? I'm trying to make up for the time I used you as a shield."

"Nate?!"

"Shush! I can't get caught! I'm undercover." She whispered harshly, looking around. "Give me your pokegear." The blonde handed over the device and Nate entered an address into it. "Go here, now. Tell her your my friend and tell her I said you could come by and visit whenever you were in town. If she doesn't let you stay, go to the other address I gave you and tell him the truth, got it?" She asked as she handed the device back to Lily.

"Oh..okay..." Lily mumbled.

"Go!" Nate ordered and the blonde ran off, slightly scared. Nate felt a little bad, but she didn't have time for that. She pulled out her own pokegear and punched in a number then held it up to her ear, hearing it ring.

"Nate, something wrong?" Tabitha asked, confused as to why she was calling him.

"Mikhail is a traitor." She said, starting a jog to the hotel to tell Brodie. They needed to get out of here, fast, in case Team Aqua caught onto them. It made her wonder how many undercover grunts were scattered across the city. "I caught him with a Team Aqua spy, the cop who arrested me, and some other boy. He's been betraying us ever since he joined."

"Are you sure of this?"

"Of course I am! Team Aqua is planning a kidnapping of some sort. I've send Lily off to a safe place and I'm going to tell Brodie the second I get back to our room. "

"I'll handle Mikhail, be careful, okay Natalie?"

"I always am, Commander." She muttered and sighed when she heard the click at the other end of the line, meaning their conversation was over. She continued jogging to the hotel, hoping the sandals she was wearing wouldn't break. She ran into the hotel lobby and into the elevator, mashing her floor number button and the door close button before anyone could get into the elevator with her. She caught her breath as the elevator went up to her floor. She was starting to get out of shape. When the doors opened, she was back to running. She reached the door to their suite and slid the key card and opened the door, relieved to see Brodie laying on the bed and watching tv.

"Back so soon?" Brodie asked, surprised to see her. "Natalie...what's wrong?"

"Team...Aqua...kidnapping...gotta...go..." She said while panting. She trudged over to the bed and sat down. He let her catch her breath before wanting to know everything. Once she was done explaining, he got up and went into the bathroom to change into Hugh.

"I'm going to go to Mr. Stone and tell him we're leaving early to go sightseeing around Honen before heading back to Sinnoh. You go make sure Lily made it to Mauville City safely and then come straight back to the room, okay?"

"Got it." Nate said, but had an entirely different plan in her head. She was running once again, towards the Rustburo-Verdanturf tunnel, making it seem like she was following Brodie's plans. She stopped before reaching the tunnel and pulled out a pokeball. "Altaria, come out!" She called out the pokemon and it flapped its fluffy white wings at her. "I need you to get me to Lilycove as soon as possible."

This was a horrible idea, but, she had to do it.

* * *

Cassius watched his Skitty play in the ocean by running away from the waves as they crashed onto the beach and then running after them as they went back into the ocean. He turned to his left when an Altaria landed on the sand beside him. He looked at its trainer and stepped away, scooping Skitty up into his arms in case he needed to run.

"Relax, it's me." Nate said as she saw the tension in his expression. He relaxed, then became confused. "For a mission, that's not important." Nate waved his questions off. "I just want to let you know that Leighton is a spy. She's been telling Ian, that guy who arrested us, all about your plans."

"What?!" He growled, mad now. She betrayed him? Oohh, he was so letting Shelly go at her. "How do you know this?"

"Saw and heard them talking. One of my grunts is in on it too. Though, we never told him much, so the damage isn't too bad."

Crap, Cassius had told Leighton a lot.

"Why are you telling me?"

"Because." Nate shrugged, she really didn't know why. She felt like she owed it to him. "The girl was irritating and I knew you'd put too much trust in her and end up getting thrown in jail or something."

"Thanks." Cassis chuckled. "You know, you look pretty good as a brunette."

"Shut up!" She glared at him and pet the Altaria. It flapped it wings and started to rise in the air. "Back to Rustburo, Altaria."

"See you soon?" Cassius asked as he watched her.

"Maybe, if you decide to get in my way again." She said, now looking down at him. "Take care of your traitor soon, before she makes a mess of things." With that, she was gone, high in the sky ontop of the pokemon, flying quickly towards Rustburo City. Her pokegear started to ring and she picked it up swiftly. "Nate here."

"Hello Dear! I just wanted to let you know one of your friends is here. Lily. Did you know she was coming over?"

"Oh, I told her to come by whenever she was in town; I forgot to tell her that some weeks I'm with dad. I'll be home later tonight or tomorrow. Dad took me to Dewford town for a day trip sort of thing." She had to raise her voice so her mother could hear her. "Sorry, the ocean is loud. I gotta go! Bye!" She hung up and groaned. She had to deal with that once she got home. Awesome.

The Altaria landed in front of the hotel. She thanked the pokemon and returned it, then ran into the hotel, like she had done earlier, and ran to the room. She was surprised how fast Brodie worked. All the bags were packed up and waiting by the door, while he spoke to someone on the phone.

"Okay, we're ready to go." He told her once he hung up. "All the luggage is being sent back to Sinnoh to Hugh and Bianca's address while we are going to visit Lavaridge Town. "

"Which is right next to the base." Nate finished his plan for him.

"Let's get moving. You think the Altaria could carry us both?" Brodie asked, holding the door open for Nate.

"She should. It's not too far to the mountain." She ran a few fingers through her wig, trying to flatten it out and make it look normal as the elevator they were on opened up to the lobby. "Can't wait to get this damn thing off and get into my uniform again."

"But you look so adorable in that dress!" Brodie smiled at her. She glared at him as they stepped out of the hotel and she called out the Altaria to get them to the mountain.

"What a pain in the ass mission." Nate mumbled once they were safely in the air and out of anyone's hearing range.

"It would have been better if Team Aqua hadn't interfered." Brodie said, putting his arms around her waist so he wouldn't fall off the pokemon. "Glad to be heading home though, this mission was a bit tiring."

"You're telling me.." She muttered, happy she didn't have to act like she was in love with Brodie anymore. She felt much better when her feet touched the rough ground of the mountain when the pokemon landed. She returned it to its pokeball once again and followed Brodie to the entrance of their hideout. He flashed his magma emblem and the rock slid to reveal the door. "Ready to see your commander again?"

"Of course I am. Nothing has changed."

"Natalie, everything has changed." Brodie said and disappeared into the hideout. She looked around and slid in, letting the door close behind her. She calmed herself, telling herself over and over again that no, Tabitha didn't love her at all and Brodie was just trying to pick on her, but some part of her wished that he was telling her the truth. He wouldn't telling her that if it wasn't true. Brodie wouldn't do that to her. He would lie to everyone about everything, but he would never lie to Nate about this. It meant too much to her. "Relax, act normal."

"How the hell can I act normal when I know….that…he….me.." She whispered harshly, staying by his side as they headed to Maxie's office.

"Well you better learn how to fast because here he comes." Brodie chuckled when he saw Tabitha walking straight towards them.

"Oh groudon." Nate mumbled.

* * *

**So so so sooooo sorry for taking forever with this update! I wanted to post the first chapter to my new story and I spent more time on it then I had planned to, but, I got this chapter out, so yay me! Next chapter will definitely have more Cassius in it, sorry the lack of him in this chapter. Anyway, please enjoy and check out my new story if you feel like it! Bye! **


	20. Chapter 21

Cassius could practically feel the anger that he knew was coming off Shelly as he told her about Leighton through the phone, still watching his skitty play in the ocean.

"I'm going to get that little snitch!" She yelled, her face red.

"Do it soon, before she gets away." Cassius told her, thinking back to what Nate had told him just a few minutes ago. Cassius was pissed. He wanted to track Leighton down and do it himself. "Doesn't she have a tracker on her radio thing whatever it is?"

"Yes, all new recruits ha-oh, of course!" He hears her typing away quickly, probably pulling up Leighton's tracker to see where she was now. "You'll handle this, won't you? Make sure you scare her and make sure she never tries to cross paths with us ever again."

"Of course, Commander." Cassius nodded even though she couldn't see it. "I'll take care of it. Skitty! Let's go!" The pink pokemon turned to him and then ran towards him obediently. "Okay boss, where's the snitch now?"

"Rustburo City at the moment, probably trying to interfere with our kidnapping mission. I'm sending Ai to you, you're on the beach, correct?"

"Yes. What kidnapping mission?"

"Not a mission anymore, it's a failure. The girl we were going to use as bait vanished and it doesn't matter anyway, Hugh and Bianca have left the city already." Shelly mumbled, embarrassed. "Just get to Rustburo as soon as it gets dark. I'll keep you posted on her location." With a click, Shelly was gone.

Ai rode in on a wailmer a few minutes later. She patted the pokemon on its head and it swam off back towards the base. "You feeling better?" She asked as she approached Cassius. "Is that a skitty?"

"Oh, yeah, much better. Yeah, it likes me.." He muttered and Skitty cheered as Ai pet its head. "C'mon, I need to change and then we can head off to Rustburo to get the traitor." Cassius lead Ai off towards his house, letting her hold his skitty.

"We won't be too mean, right?"

"Ai, it's required for us to be mean."

"I know..just...I liked Leighton..."

"Well, I did too, but, she obviously didn't like us." Cassius muttered. "She's not our friend, she's our enemy. We have to make sure she'll keep her mouth shut, or we're in trouble."

* * *

"Nate, I need you and Haru to get the brat." Tabitha said as he approached Brodie and her. "I know you just got back, but this needs to be done as soon as possible."

"Yes sir, of course." Nate said, pulling the wig off and shook her head to get her hair fall right. "How soon?"

"Haru's is ready to go now, so hurry, don't keep him waiting. Your father put your pokeballs in Brodie's room. "

"Yes sir!" She ran down the hall to Brodie's room where her pokemon and uniform was.

"Why'd you make her leave?" Brodie asked. "You overwork the poor girl."

"She's happy to make sure Mikhail won't be a problem for us. I'm letting Haru go with her just in case, don't tell me how to do my job." Tabitha growled at him, not pleased with him at all. "And stop sending me annoying messages."

"I'm just trying to make you realize how you feel."

"I know how I feel. I feel annoyed by you." Tabitha really didn't know how he felt at all. Brodie wasn't helping him at all; he was just making it worse. He sent Nate off as fast as he could so he didn't have to see her for another few hours, which would give himself time to relax and to actually think.

"Tabitha-"

"Brodie, Maxie wants to see you in his office for a mission report. Now." Tabitha said and walked off before Brodie could say anything else to him. He headed down the hall and Nate ran past him, her hood in one hand and her pokeball belt in the other. "Natalie." Tabitha said, rolling his eyes. He turned around and looked at her. She had stopped abruptly and turned to face him, her cheeks red and an embarrassed look on her face. "Just like when you first joined.." He walked towards her and pulled her hoodie top over her head and adjusted it while she wrapped her belt around her waist.

"I don't want to make Haru wait long." Nate explained while he finished fixing her hood.

"He'd just get onto you for not dressing properly. " Tabitha said, looking at her. She nodded her head, even though she had a slight pout on her face. She really did look like she had when she first joined. Always rushing around, worrying him and making him fix whatever she messed up. She was way too much of a handful. "You can be such a pain in the ass.."

"Yeah yeah, but I'm your favorite." She smirked and tried not to look at his eyes, knowing she'd lose it if she did. She had to know. No, no she didn't. She didn't have to know. No, wait, she did have to know. Definitely. She didn't know.

"Just go take care of Mikhail. Make me proud." He patted her head, knowing it would annoy her. "And don't get lost or arrested. I know that you do that when I'm not around."

"But I know that you'll come and find me if I do. Don't worry sir, I won't let you down." Nate told him and ran off to meet up with Haru.

"That was so cute." Rachel said from behind Tabitha. "Right?"

"It was very sweet." Esther agreed. Tabitha turned around and glared at them, not knowing there was an audience.

"You can't fool us commander!" Rachel smiled. "We're girls, we notice things."

"You're just as bad as Brodie."

"I can get worst."

* * *

Cassius crept through Petalburg Woods with Ai following right behind him. Leighton had now moved to the beach that was outside of Petalburg City. He sped up, worried that she was getting away when he crashed into someone. He fell on top of the person and then felt someone fall on him.

"What the hell!?" Nate struggled with all the weight that was on her.

"Oh, hey Nate, what's up?" Cassius chuckled.

"Haru!" Nate said, reaching out for the commander. She felt the weight become less and less until Cassius was off of her and she was able to sit up. Everyone seemed to have fallen and lucky Nate was stuck at the bottom of the pile. "Thank you. What are you two doing here?" She asked, eyeing Ai.

"Oh, uhm, getting...getting Leighton.." Ai mumbled, avoiding eye contact with Nate and instead looking at Haru. "We have to make sure she doesn't try to get in Team Aqua's way again."

"Of course, could have figured. We're taking care of Mikhail now." Nate explained. "The two would be together. That annoying policeman and their other friend will probably be there."

"We should team up then!" Cassius suggested. Nate was sure Haru would shoot him down, but the commander nodded his head in agreement. "Let's go then. They're on the beach. They might be trying to get a ride from someone to get out of here." The four hurried off through the woods to get to the beach.

"How should we approach them?" Nate asked, looking at the other three.

"Surround them." Haru said. "Two on each side. Let's spilt up." He eyed Ai, but went off with Nate.

"Let's go." Cassius grabbed Ai's hand and pulled her off towards the beach, ready to win against Leighton.

* * *

"So the mission was cancelled?" Ian asked.

"Yes, suddenly. They said that Bianca and Hugh left the city this afternoon..."

"That doesn't sound right." Jordan said, shaking his head. "Is that all Shelly said?"

"Yeah, and she told me to stay in Rustburo City in case anything happens, but there were tons of undercover Aqua grunts there, she didn't need me there. That made me a little nervous, so that's why I wanted to leave."

"Well aren't you a genesis?" Cassius asked, walking towards them with Ai slightly behind them. "Would've made it easier for us if you actually listened to orders. "

"C-Cassius?" Leighton asked, surprised to see him there. This was not good. She shot Jordan, Ian, and Mikhail a panicked look. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Taking care of a snitch." He told her, getting angry that she was asking him what he was doing there. What did she think?! "Why else would I be here? It's a shame, you know, I was starting to like you."

"Too bad! It's four against two, so just give up peacefully." Ian said, more than happy to arrest him.

"Not so fast!" Nate said from behind them, walking towards them with Haru, whose red eyes were more scary on an empty beach at night than they were usually. "Mikhail, why would you go and do this to me?"

"Ah, hello Nate.." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Cut the crap, hand over the emblem." Haru said, holding out his hand in a demanding way. "Now."

"Emblem?" Jordan asked.

"It's how you get into both of their hideouts." Leighton explained, looking at Ai's extended hand, knowing she wanted the same thing as Haru wanted.

"Houndoom." Nate called out the dog pokemon. It snarled at the group, ready to attack. "I believe the commander asked for something."

Mikhail groaned, but dug into his pocket and pulled out the emblem. He tossed it over to Haru, who caught it easily and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Thank you!" Nate said with a sour smile on her face.

"Leighton, we're waiting." Cassius put a hand on his pokeballs, threatening to send out one of his pokemon. She dug into her bag and pulled out her emblem. She handed it to Ai quickly. "Good, now that that's taken care of, leave."

"Leave?" Jordan asked. "Why would we leave? We can't let either of your teams destroy this region!"

"Eh, don't shoot the messenger." Cassius held up his hands with a shrug. "I suggest you leave before you get hurt."

"We can take you guys!" Mikhail said with a balled fist.

Nate's houndoom growled at him, preparing to launch at him. "Hm?" Nate turned to Haru, waiting for him to make a decision.

"Fine." He muttered.

"Yeah!" Mikhail cheered, throwing out a pokeball. "Let's go Charmander!"

"Lunatone, go!" Jordan ordered, throwing out a pokeball as well.

Haru looked at the pokemon before tossing out his own. "Psyduck!" He didn't look too happy about choosing the pokemon, since it was dense, but water was good against fire.

Leighton pouted, wanting Jordan to be on her team, but soon got over it as Ai sent out her ralts and Ian sent out his Nidoking, Rey.

"Let's go Leighton." Cassius told her, sending out his crobat. She glared at him and sent out her polywag.

"Time to make you regret ever getting involved with us!" Nate said and her houndoom launched itself at Jordan's Lunatone.

There was smoke, bangs, crashes, water, and strong winds all within the next few minutes. All of it combined created a lot of noise and commotion.

"We need to leave." Haru told Nate, who was ordering another round of attacks to take down Jordan's pokemon. She understood why. They couldn't get caught. They had no flying pokemon to get them out of it quickly.

"Cassius!" Nate yelled across the battle field, getting his attention. "Houndoom, use smokescreen!" The pokemon barked and created a wall of smoke. She and Haru returned their pokemon and took off. Cassius and Ai were soon right behind them, and the four disappeared into the forest just as the smoke cleared.

"Dammit!" Jordan growled, seeing that the criminals had escaped. "What can we do now?"

"We could show you their hideouts...but we won't be able to get into them...and even if we do somehow get into them, they'll out number us in no time flat." Leighton explained.

"Do you know where Cassius or Natalie live?"

"Nope, Nate barely told me anything about herself!" Mikhail shoved his hands into his pockets and blew his bangs out of his face. Leighton shook her head, even though she knew where Cassius lived. She couldn't tell them. She thought about his poor grandfather and how if she told he might get arrested or hurt.

"Now we're at a dead end. I'm alerting my team to them, maybe they can catch them.." Ian said, walking a little ways off to call him team.

"What do we do now?" Mikhail asked, looking at Jordan and Leighton.

"Stay out of their way?" Leighton asked,

"Maybe, I'm worried that Cassius or Natalie will find you two and really make us regret getting in their way.."

"Cassius wouldn't do anything harsh." Leighton said, almost forgetting the hatred in his eyes that she knew was for her. "He hates me now, but, he wouldn't hurt me. I know too much about him."

"Like what?"

"Just..personal things.."

"Psh, Nate would happily kick my ass, she never liked me. What things did he tell you?" Mikhail asked, turning to the dark haired girl.

"Well I think he has feelings for Natalie, but I'm not entirely sure.."

"That could be useful." Ian said, rejoining the group.

"But I-I might be wrong!" Leighton said, putting her hands up. She didn't want this!

"I think Nate has a thing for Commander Tabitha if that helps." Mikhail piped in, knowing Leighton didn't want to have anything to do with Cassius anymore. They had become friends, even though she knew she was suppose to be spying on him. She wouldn't tell them anything about him.

"Knew it." Ian muttered. "Years of chasing after them made me realize that."

"Do we know if he feels the same? We get Nate, then we get Cassius and a magma commander. Two swellows with one stone." Jordan suggested.

"Psh, if Nate had a crush on me, I wouldn't say no to her." Mikhail laughed, shrugging. "But he would come running to her if she needed him."

"We'll have to think about this. I really don't think we should mess with those guys..." Leighton said. "How would you deal with the people who put the person you cared about in danger?"

"Leighton's right, we'll have to think this one over." Jordan muttered and Leighton smiled, happy he agreed with her.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait. Been trying to finish my research paper for school! Thank you everyone who had favorited, reviewed, or followed my new story. I would appreciate it if you guys took a look at it! I'm almost done with the second chapter! (Just so you know, that story will totally be natexcassius.)**


	21. Chapter 22

"We made a pretty great team you know." Cassius smiled at Nate and she rolled her eyes at him.

"We made a scary enough team." She corrected him, pulling her hood down as the four of them climbed out of the Verdanturf tunnel. "We made an impression on them, one they won't be forgetting anytime soon."

"And got the emblem back." Haru added, helping Ai out of the tunnel.

"Thank you." Ai smiled at him and he gave her a small smile back.

Cassius gave Ai a questioning look while Nate shot Haru a demanding look, wanting answers to why he was being so friendly and nice to Ai. He practically held her hand through the whole tunnel while they tried to navigate in the dark. That was very un-Haru like. He let Nate trip and fall on every mission she went on with him, which is why Tabitha stopped letting her go with him when she ended up covered in bruises and cuts after every mission.

Haru sent Nate a fierce look behind Cassius and Ai's backs. She shot one back at him, not giving in to his terrifying expression. His facial features then relaxed and he looked at Cassius' back and then back to Nate, raising his eyebrows. Nate shook her head, embarrassed that he was even thinking that. She nodded towards Ai and looked at him. He avoided eye contact with her and his face became rigid again.

"Knew it." Nate whispered.

"Knew what?" Cassius asked, turning around. Nate shrugged, brushing it off. Cassius turned away as Nate gave Haru another look. More sympathetic than she knew she was capable of. Once they entered Mauville City, it was time to split up.

"I gotta get home." Nate told Haru. "My mom is going to freak if I'm not home soon."

"You live around here?" Ai asked, looking at the city around them. A few people were out, but none were paying much attention to the criminal group.

"Yeah, bright, isn't it?" She asked, deciding to be nice to the girl. She pulled her hoodie top over her head and handed it to Haru. She also took off her arm and leg warmers and handed them to him. "Mind throwing those in my locker?" She asked, brushing off the black dress she had on underneath the hoodie. "I can't walk into my house with that on and I can't open my window from the outside."

"Fine." Haru grumbled, not wanting to get on Nate's bad side after she found out his secret.

"Need me to walk you home?" Cassius asked playfully, knowing she'd say no. Surprisingly, she didn't.

"Sure." She walked off and Cassius looked at Haru and Ai a confused look.

"She said yes." Haru told Cassius, wondering if he was deaf.

"I know…but…meet me on the beach in 15 minutes, Ai." Cassius left his partner to run after Nate, who was a fast walker. "Dude, what's up?" Cassius asked once he reached Nate.

"You didn't see it?"

"See what?"

"Those two obviously have something going on. Haru is nice to no one." Nate informed him. "The only reason he even agreed to take my uniform was because he didn't want me telling Tabitha about Ai and him. Can't believe he thought I'd be a snitch…" Nate muttered.

"I was wondering what was going on with them. Ai usually is really shy.." Cassius said. "I am sooooo bugging her about this on the trip home." Cassius chuckled, taking his bandana off and running his fingers through his hair to help spike it up.

"Haru owes me. I got him alone time with her. Like I would ever need you to walk me home." Nate said and Cassius gave her a hurt look.

"Damn, just trying to be polite, I didn't think you'd actually say yes."

"Shut up, I said I wouldn't need you to walk me home, not that I didn't want you to." Nate rolled her eyes and Cassius smiled widely at her.

"I knew you liked me."

"I find you annoying, but your company isn't all that bad." Nate admitted, not looking at him. "Doesn't mean I like you."

"Nate."

"What?"

"You likkkeee me!" Cassius taunted her, putting an arm around her shoulder and then poked her cheek.

"I tolerate you."

"Close enough!" Cassius cheered happily. "I knew I'd rub off on you sooner or later!"

"What else was I suppose to do? You show up wherever I go." Nate asked him irritably. "It's just easier to give up on completely disliking you."

"Nate, giving up?" Cassius asked and put his hands behind his head in a relaxing position. "Crazy talk."

"You would give up too if you had to deal with someone like you while you were trying to work." Nate explained. "Sometimes it's best to give up, you have to chose your battles."

"I would love somebody who was like me." Cassius said and gave her a sideways glance. She had a small smile on her face and was looking straight ahead as they continued to walk down the street.

"Of course you would." She said after a few moments. "That's not surprising."

"You're one of those people that insults people as a sign of affection, aren't you?"

"If I am it means I'm very affectionate." Nate shrugged.

"Especially towards me!" Cassius laughed and stopped walking when he saw Nate had stopped.

"This is my street." She nodded her head down the street with a few houses on each side. "If you keep going straight, you'll reach the beach in a few minutes."

"Do I really not get to walk you to your house?"

"I don't want you knowing where I live. " Nate told him. "You might come and kidnap me."

"I know we're on opposing teams and everything but..Nate." Cassius just looked at her.

"What?" Nate crossed her arms across her chest and looked down her street.

"Let's go." He linked arms with her and pulled her down the street until she grew tired of being pulled and started to lead him towards her house.

"Think your mom will invite me in for dinner?" Cassius asked, thinking with his stomach. He had to break the silence somehow. Of course his stomach spoke before his brain could process what it was saying.

"I highly doubt it. I already have Lily over." Nate informed him, not looking forward to explaining it to her mom.

"Lily? That Lily?" Cassius asked, thinking of the blonde they had used as a hostage.

"Yeah. Heard you guys were going to kidnapped her and use her as a hostage. Couldn't let it happen so I sent her to mom's. At least, I think that's where she is. Told her to go to my dad's if my mom didn't let her stay." Nate explained. "She better not have spilled about my job."

"She wouldn't, you saved her ass." Cassius said and stopped again when Nate stopped in front of a house. The lights shone through the curtains in the front windows, indicating that someone was in the front room.

"Time to find out I guess.." Nate muttered.

"Nate." Cassius said in a serious tone. Nate looked at him, surprised by his tone. Cassius was only serious when he was ordered to be serious. " I would never hurt you, you know." She searched his face for something, something to tell her that he was just playing with her and wasn't serious, but she couldn't find anything. It scared her. It scared her to realize that he was actually telling the truth, that this boy whom she had spent the last few months hating and insulting actually cared about her? "So don't worry about me knowing where you live." Cassius reassured her, trying to make the air less tense and then opened his mouth to say something else when the front door opened, letting light from inside the house pour out onto the street.

"Nate! Knew it was you! C'mon, you're mom just made the best pie I've ever eaten in my entire life!" Lily exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that Cassius was with her. She pulled the other blonde girl inside and shut the door as Nate sent Cassius a horrible look, already knowing what she was getting herself into.

Cassius laughed softly to himself and walked in the direction that had just come. He hoped Ai was already on the small beach outside of Mauville, waiting for him. He found that the main street was emptier than it had been when he and Nate walked on it a few minutes earlier. It was getting late, plus, the Casino was in the other direction.

"There you are!" Ai greeted him when he finally got to the beach a few minutes later. "What took you so long?"

"Ai, I know Haru just left when he saw me coming. No way would he leave you here alone." Cassius told her with an eye roll. He felt like he was turning into Nate. "So don't act like you've been suffering."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not an idiot; Nate filled me in on what's going on between you and Haru. And you gave me crap about getting too close to Natalie." Cassius walked past her and onto the bridge that led them over the water and onto the beach on the other side. Ai followed after him with a guilty look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want her to hurt you Cassius. Haru told me all about her while we waited for you." Ai apologized. "She's apparently a 'commander's pet'."

"I can see that." He nodded his head, knowing she'd follow Tabitha around anywhere.

"Yeah, well, he thinks there's something going on between the two of them, because she just got back from a mission earlier this evening and he sent her out on another one the second she got back."

"Seriously?" Cassius asked, irritated. How could he send her out again the second after she completed a mission? Especially one where she was posed as some celebrity, which he put together after seeing her in that disguise she wore when she went to warn him about Leighton. Then again, she probably agreed to it. "She works way too much."

"If you want to get out on top, you have to on their team. Haru didn't get that cape and commander status by being lazy." Ai told him. "Besides, the more she works, the higher the chance is that you'll get to see her, right?"

"If you think about it that way, yeah, but, I don't have feelings for her or anything like that. I just like messing with her." Cassius felt embarrassed now. "Does it seem like I like her?"

"Well, no, guess not. You are flirty with a lot of girls." Ai mumbled.

"Exactly. I've told you and Dirk and everyone else it seems that I don't have feelings for her. She's totally in love with that Commander Tabitha guy." Cassius muttered. Now, after he saw how she looked at him when he told her that he would never hurt her, he wasn't too sure. He hadn't meant to say it, or for it to come out in that way, but it did and he swore she believed him. He felt like she already knew he would never hurt her. Which couldn't be right because even though Nate said she was fine with him, he doubted that she even remotely trusted him. "And they go well together. Both are stubborn, have a temper, and work too much. Match made in heaven."

Ai watched Cassius as she fell into step beside him when they got to the other side. He looked mad, confused, and tired.

"So, spill it, when did you meet Haru?" He asked, desperately wanting to think about something else.

* * *

"I cannot believe you guys just got back!" Nate's mother exclaimed, looking at the clock.

"We spent more time in Slateport than we thought we would." Nate lied. "I'm glad that you two get along."

"Your mom rocks! She's a great cook and we watched pokecontests all afternoon!" Lily squealed, overly excited.

"Thank you! It's so nice to have such a friendly and happy face around here!" Nate's mom smiled, making Nate frown.

Okay, she had gotten her dad's social skills, so what?

"I'm friendly.." Nate almost growled out, stabbing her piece of pie with a fork. She wanted to go to bed. Cassius confused her. So did Tabitha.

"You didn't seem super friendly with that boy you were outside with!" Her mother told her, making Nate's face go red. "Yeah, I saw you two when I looked out through the curtains! Did you go on a date with him? Of course you did, that's why you're wearing that black dress, right?"

"Uh.."

"Knew it! Why didn't you tell me, honey? I wanted to meet the boy! Are you going to see him again? He was very handsome."

"Most likely…" Nate muttered, knowing the odds of seeing Cassius again on a mission were very high. "Yes he was.."

"I didn't even see a boy." Lily grumbled, upset with herself for being so oblivious.

"Why else would I be standing outside by myself at night?" Nate asked her, stuffing a piece of pie into her mouth to avoid answering any more of her mom's questions.

"Next time smile more at him! You were looking at him like a deerling in the headlights or something sweetie." Her mom said.

Well damn, what Cassius told her took her by surprise. She didn't understand what it meant. Were they friends or what? They obviously weren't enemies anymore.

"If you smile maybe he'll kiss you!"

"What?!" Nate asked, coming out of her thoughts.

"Of course. He looked like he was about to, but Lily interrupted."

"I'm sorry!" Lily said quickly and Nate shook her head.

"Its fine, Lily, really, it is." Nate reassured the blonde. "I doubt he was going to kiss me, mom. We had only met a few hours ago. I met him in Slateport City when dad and I were down there."

"Next time I expect to meet this boy, what's his name?"

"Uh…Cassius." Nate instantly regretted telling her his actual name. She was getting as bad as Cassius with that.

"Cassius? That's an odd name." Her mother said and Lily looked at her with wide eyes. "Oh well, I bet he is a lovely boy!" She took the empty plates off of the table and went into the kitchen do put them in the dishwasher.

"You're dating Cassius? But he's on Team Aqua." Lily whispered.

"I'm not actually dating him, Lily. We ran into each other on a mission and he just walked me home. I don't know really but I know that we sure as hell aren't dating." Nate whispered back.

"Figured." Lily muttered. "So, what is the plan? Do I stay here a few more days or what?"

"Stay as long as you like, my mom enjoys having you around. Besides, you could distract her while I'm gone." Nate said softly. "Ask to go to the pokemon contest hall in Verdanturf town tomorrow. I have to go into work."

"I think you work too much…"

"I'm my father's daughter. Don't tell my mom that though."

"I won't, I promise." Lily nodded her head as Nate's mom came back into the room.

And for some reason, Nate believed her.

* * *

**This whole chapter fills like such a filler chapter to me since there's no action (which I am not the best at) at all. I'm really sorry about that! I want tons of action, but I also don't, so I try to even it out, but I fail. Horribly. Good news though, I turned my research paper in so I can focus more on the next chapter! **


	22. Chapter 23

Cassius wiped his brow and searched around his toolbox for a hammer. He was trying to work on his boat since he had the day off. He looked around the shipyard when he noticed that it was quiet and no one seemed to be around. Maybe they all went off to dinner or something? It was around the evening time, but the sun was just setting, why would they go off for dinner? Maybe they were all inside the building, looking at a boat the crew inside was working on?

"Cassius!" A female voice shouted and Cassius jolted up, trying to find the source of noise. He saw Nate walking towards him with her espeon right beside her. That was strange. How did Nate know he was in Slateport city? Why would she come down and see him anyway? "Hey!"

"Uh, Hey Nate. What are you doing down here?" Cassius wiped his hands on a rag and stepped off of his boat and onto the small dock, one of the many small docks around the ship yard.

"Mom's shopping so I decided to look around some and I saw you working on your boat." Nate said casually looking at his boat.

"Oh, not working today?"

"Nope, not today. Decided to take a day off." Nate looked back behind her shoulder before turning back to him. "You can keep working on your boat if you want, I don't mind watching." Cassius stepped back onto his boat and continued his work where he left off.

"It's been a couple of weeks since I saw you last, how are you?" Cassius asked, referring back to the night a couple of weeks ago when he walked her home after a mission.

"Fine, the usual." She looked again towards the boathouse and back to him. Cassius waited for her to say more, but she just watched him work. His umbreon sat next to him, eyeing her espeon. The two would normally argue or do something, but now they just stared at each other.

Cassius heard someone shout something from inside the boathouse and stopped what he was doing to listen. "What the hell is going on in there?"

"Probably nothing. Isn't it always loud?" Nate asked, trying to distract him.

"Not like that." Cassius shook his head and put his tool down. He stepped off of his boat and onto the dock after putting his tool box away and making sure his boat was secured to the dock. There was another shout and he started towards the boat house. Umbreon ran after him and Nate and espeon did too.

"It's probably nothing." Nate tried to reassure him, but he ignored her. Something wasn't right. Nate was acting weird. She hadn't insulted him once. Her espeon was even acting weird. It wasn't acting prissy or even arguing with his umbreon. He ran into the boathouse and saw his own team, Team Aqua, trying to steal something. He wasn't aware that this mission was even going on!

"Cassius!" A male worker said, relieved to see him. He looked helplessly at the workers, knowing there wasn't much he could do for either side.

"Espeon, use yawn..Knew I should've done this mission myself. That idiot was suppose to get in and out, not get caught up with those washed up pirates…" Cassius heard Nate mutter from behind him. Cassius took a deep breath and closed his eyes as a light, almost invisible cloud drifted towards the crowd. They all began to yawn and fell asleep quickly after. Cassius opened an eye, saw it was safe, then opened the other and let out the breath he was holding, glad his plan had worked. He turned around to face Nate but she was gone.

"Got it, come get me." She muttered, running out of the office with a package in her hands.

"Nate, what the hell!?" Cassius yelled, running after her. "Commander, failed mission at the boatyard. Everyone is asleep, police have probably been alerted. In pursuit of the package I suppose this mission was about." Cassius muttered into his radio, glad he brought it along with him.

"What?!" Shelly yelled back.

"Send someone to get those idiots or they'll be arrested!" Cassius yelled back, trying not to lose Nate in the crowd of the port city. "I'll try to get the package." Cassius sped up, almost grabbing onto Nate before she took a sharp turn. He followed out of the busy part of the city and almost grabbed her again when a pokemon swooped down and she was gone in a blink of an eye. He glared at the salamance and tried to catch his breath. "Failed." He muttered into his radio, panting. Umbreon jogged up to his side and waited for its trainer to catch its breath.

"That's it, c'mon Umbreon." He started walking, furious that Nate did this to him. How the hell could she just use him like that? Was she meant to be a distraction while someone else was supposed to steal whatever that package was? He assumed the plan was messed up when Team Aqua interfered and when he went to the boathouse. It didn't matter how, but he was going to get to the bottom of this. Now.

He didn't know if she was even staying with her mom this week, or if she'd even come home anytime soon, but Cassius walked to Mauville City to go wait at her house. "I'm so pissed, Umbreon." He told his pokemon, who was still trotting alongside him. "How the hell could she do this to me? I know we're on opposing sides, but I didn't think she would do what everyone told me she would do.." He thought back to all the times Ai, Aura, and Dirk told him to watch out for her, that'd she do this. He should have listened.

Cassius knocked on the door, as calmly as he could, and waited.

"Helllooo?" Lily asked, answering. "Cassius? Are you okay?"

"Where is Nate?"

"Uh, now? Well. Probably coming back from the desert…" Lily looked at the clock on the wall in the living room. "Technically, work, but, her mom thinks she spent the day in the desert , so she said she was going to stop by the desert after work to get some sand in her shoes and clothes to make it look like she was there all day.."

"Where's her mom?"

"She called and said she was spending the night in Lilycove. She went to visit some friends. I forgot to call Nate and tell her that. Would you like to come in?"

"No. I'll wait for Nate here. Thanks." Cassius sat on the porch. Umbreon sat beside him loyally.

"Alright, you can come in if she takes too long." Lily said and shut the door softly, going to cook dinner.

Lily was telling the truth and it wasn't too long before Cassius saw the blonde. She was trudging down the street, looking extremely tired. Her espeon, looking annoyed, walked beside her. As she got closer Cassius could tell she was just in the desert. She had go-go goggles still on her head, sand was stuck on her arms and legs, and her hair was in a messy ponytail and looked like it had sand all in it.

"Cassius?" She asked, confused when she saw him sitting on her porch. "What are you doing here?"

"Wondering why the hell you used me today!" He growled, standing up. Her espeon got in front of her trainer defensively, sensing Cassius' aggression. Umbreon did the same and growled at espeon, who growled back. The two battered on while Nate shook her head.

"What are you talking about, Cas? I was at work all day, except when I went into the desert…."

"You tried to distract me from what was going on in the boathouse! You put all of my teammates to sleep with your espeon and then took off!" Cassius balled his fist and glared at her. She looked confused, so he slowed down and told her everything.

"That wasn't me, Cassius, I swear!" Nate argued, shaking her head. "I promise."

"Then who was it?! She looked just like you. Had your eyes, your espeon, even your scar…" Cassius looked at his Umbreon, who was nudging his leg.

"Bree bree." It said, looking at Nate's espeon. The two chatted more and Umbreon looked back up at Cassius.

"The girl's espeon didn't even talk to umbreon." Cassius told Nate. "It didn't even act like an Esepon…"

"Brodie." Nate's face was now twisted in anger. "I'm going to fuc-GAH!" She stomped her foot, pushing past Cassius. "Come in. I'm going to straighten this out." Cassius, Umbreon, and Espeon rushed into the house and Nate slammed the door behind them.

"Oh, you're home!" Lily cheered, though her smile vanished as she saw the look on Nate's face. "Dinner is ready…lasagna…and…your mom is staying in Lilycove tonight.."

"Good. Cassius, Umbreon, you two can stay for dinner, we have plenty. I need to make a call."

"And shower…" Lily muttered, pushing Nate down the hallway towards the bathroom. "Cassius, you can help me set the table!"

Once Nate was showered and cleaned and the table was set, Lily took the lasagna out of the oven and set it on the table "I didn't need a shower..."

Cassius looked at Nate, who was glaring down at her plate. Her wet hair was sticking to her face and her cheeks and legs and arms were still red from the hot shower she took. "Nate, you were covered in sand.."

"Look, I know you're upset, but, eat dinner at a normal pace…" Lily muttered, shaking her head at houw Nate was stuffing food into her mouth. "She usually comes home like this.." Lily told Cassius, looking at him from across the table. "Thank goodness her mom has been going out lately to visit friends…"

"It's just ridiculous!" Nate said, pushing her hair out of her face and groaned. "How long have I given my life to them? To him! And what does he do? Get Brodie to impersonate me!"

"I'm going out on a limb here and say she's talking about Tabitha?" Cassius guessed and Lily nodded her head.

"Usually is. Mostly complains about him."

"Of course I complain! He has been pushing me off onto Haru, like I'm some diseased filled mutt!" Nate stuffed more food into her mouth. Cassius watched her and she looked angry, but he knew this was probably eating her up inside. They all finished their food and Cassius helped Lily clean up while Nate went to call Tabitha. She sat out on the back porch and Cassius watched her while he cleared off the table.

"I hope she quits.." Lily mumbled. "I told her we should go travel around the sinnoh region together and we could go visit my brother or she could take me to Johto and show me around since she's been there before. I just…I feel so bad for wanting that and I know that I haven't known her long, but living with her mother and her for the past three weeks makes me feel like I've known them my whole life…and.." Lily trailed off.

"I understand." Cassius agreed, because, well, he did. "I feel like I've known her my whole life too, when she's hated me up until a few weeks ago." Cassius explained. "I want her to quit too. If she quits, I'll quit too."

"Then we could all travel together!" Lily perked up. "Gosh! That would be so much fun!" She continued. "We could go to Kanto, my parents are there working, and then Johto! We'd see so many cool things. I've always wanted to travel with friends."

Cassius nodded his head, trying to picture what Lily was telling him. Funny thing was, he really could picture it. "I want to sail around the world."

"Sail? That would be a great way to get around! I love the ocean!" Lily exclaimed. Now, he could really see the picture.

"What the hell?!" They heard Nate say. "No, no!" They peeked out the back window and watched her pace around the porch. "Brodie, put Tabitha on the damn- Put. Tabitha. On. The. Phone."

"Gosh.." Lily mumbled, holding a dishtowel tightly.

"Commander? So, what was with today's mission? Thanks for filling me in on it." Nate ran a hand through her hair, nodding her head every so often. " . No. I don't get you now. What is going on?" Nate asked. "Why did you get Brodie to dress up like me and trick Cassius like that? Oh, yeah, I know about that, I'm not an idiot! You taught me better than that."

"I always thought Hoenn was a peaceful region.." Lily told Cassius, wiping off a plate and putting it back into a cabinet.

"Not with Nate around."

"Of course I'm upset that you ordered that! He could have dressed up as some random chick and hit on him. Why did it have to be me?" Nate asked, sitting down on the steps. They watched her and Lily almost screamed when a salamance landed in the backyard and Tabitha climbed off of it.

"Talking through the phone is just not working.." Tabitha said and Cassius ducked, knowing that he could not be seen or they'd all be in trouble.

"Commander…" She groaned, setting her phone beside her now that she didn't need it anymore. "Why the hell did you push me onto Haru like I'm his problem now? Am I not good enough to be on your team anymore?"

Tabitha said something the two couldn't hear and Nate looked up at him.

"Because you care?" She asked, rage coming back into her voice. "What kind of excuse is that?! I do not believe that crap! You don't care at all! I thought you did, but guess I was wrong. You just push me onto other people. Now, you won't even look at me anymore. Am I really that horrible to you? Am I such a disappointment? Are you trying to make me quit?!"

"Let's hope.." Lily said and Cassius agreed

"That's the last thing I'd want Nate." Tabitha told her quickly, shaking his head. "I didn't mean to make you feel that way."

"How did you think it was going to make me feel?" She asked, standing up to be closer to his eye level. "Did you think about that at all?"

"Yes, no, look, I just needed time to think, okay?" Tabitha ran his hand through his hair and gave Nate a pained look. What the hell was he doing? He was putting a huge space between Nate and himself. That was the exact opposite of what he wanted to do.

"Needed time to think? Well, now you have plenty of it."

"What are you saying?"

"Since I'm no longer on your squad, you will have plenty of time to think without me around." Nate crossed her arms and glared at him. "And once you're done thinking, I might not be around anymore."

"Nate.."

"I'm being serious. I've been doing everything you wanted me to for four years and now I'm suddenly not good enough for you anymore? You need time to think? Time to think about how you're going to get me to quit?" Nate asked.

"No, I don't want you to quit!" Tabitha exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders. "Don't...don't quit. Please."

"Then start acting like you want me around. You're the only reason I'm still on the team. My dad has been trying to get me to quit for years." Nate brushed his hands off of her shoulders and headed towards the backdoors of her house. "Goodnight, Commander." She shut the door behind her and pulled the curtains over the door.

"You okay?" Lily said after a few moments of silence. Cassius stood up and peaked out the window.

"He's gone."

"Good. Yeah, I'm fine. " Nate brushed some of her hair out of her face and sighed. "He's an idiot." With that, she headed out of the kitchen and down the hall. "You can stay over if you want Cassius, but if you move anything in my room I will hurt you."

"Yeah, sorry, I took the guest bedroom over." Lily chuckled and showed Cassius to Nate's room. It had posters up on all the walls of different legendary pokemon and weird symbols you would find in ancient ruins.

"Interesting." Cassius sat down on her bed, wondering if he should just go back to slateport and stay for the night there. He did tell his grandpa he would be spending the night there.

"Sorry if it's messy." Nate appeared at the doorway with her hair now up a bun. "I usually have most of this stuff at my dad's place, but he's painting and remodeling, so I had to take all my stuff off of his walls and I just decided to put it all up here." He nodded towards the posters and corkboards covered in papers that were hanging up around the room. "Just don't touch anything, they might fall off."

"I won't, trust me. I didn't know you liked this stuff."

"To be fair, there's not much you know about me in the first place. Anyway, go to bed. I have a feeling something is going to happen tomorrow.." She said goodnight to Lily and retreated back into her mother's room, sleeping there for the night so Cassius could have her room.

"I hate it when she says that.." Lily mumbled, sitting at Nate's desk chair.

"Why?"

"She's usually right. Something usually happens. It makes me nervous." Lily thumbed through a few papers and turned to Cassius. "Last time she said that we were in the mountains and this pack of poochyenas attacked us. We fought them off, but it was still scary. It's been sort of peaceful lately, but I think it's about to change.."

"Aw shit!" They heard Nate yelled and she stormed down the hallway a few moments later pulling a top over her head and looping a belt through her shorts.

"Uh..." Cassius mumbled, his face red. His phone started to ring and he dug in his pockets to find it. "Yeah?"

"Cassius! The package those magma fools nabbed was not the part we needed! I'm sending you a picture now of what we need, go get it!" Shelly said and the line went dead.

"Shit..." Cassius whined, pulling his shoes he just took off back on. "You idiots nabbed the wrong part, didn't you?"

"Yes!" Nate said from the hallway, probably putting her shoes on.

"Well whatever you guys nabbed, it wasn't what we needed. I think we're looking for different things." Cassius joined her and Lily hurried after him.

"Adventure?" She asked, looking at the two criminals in front of her.

"Let's go then." Nate nodded, holding the door open for them. "Umbreon, espeon!" She called into the house and the pokemon came running.

"You too leafeon!" Lily called and her pokemon ran out the door. Nate shut and locked the door and the three started walking. "So, what are we doing?"

"About to rob the boathouse in Slateport. We need a map."

"We need a radar." Cassius said looking at the picture on his phone.

"R-Rob a boathouse for a map and a radar!?" Lily asked, wanting to turn back now. "I didn't know thats what we were doing!"

"Why else would we be saying shit, putting clothes on, and complaining about our idiot teams?" Nate asked and Lily sighed.

This was not the adventure she was hoping for.

* * *

**Action will be in the next chapter! I hope you guys notice how long this chapter is. 1,000 WORDS LONGER THAN MOST OF MY CHAPTERS. HOW INSANE IS THAT?! 1,000. Most of those are short words, but still, 1,000 looks so tiny when put into fanfiction form. Seems like nothing at all. Okay, if there are any mistakes, I'm really sorry! I proofed it and my friend proofed it, twice, so I'm hoping theres none at all. Also, sorry if this chapter wasn't want you were hoping for, but I wanted to type this kind of chapter. Next chapter will be more actionyy! **


	23. Chapter 24

Lily felt her heart rate speed up the closer she, Cassius, and Nate got to the boathouse building. She had been telling herself to calm down and relax, that Nate and Cassius were professional thieves, but that just made her feel worse. She was just a normal girl from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh. How did she befriend (to tell the truth, she thinks they befriended her) two criminals? And how the hell did she get pulled into this robbery!? Oh right…she wanted adventure

"Almost there." Nate said as they weaved in and out of the slightly busy streets. It was eleven at night now, so crowds of people were either handing home, to a bar, or maybe to the beach. Lily didn't think it was a good idea to do this now and tried to talk them out of it, but Cassius just smiled at her and told her to relax.

It Didn't help.

"Isn't there someone else who can do this?"

"No, this mission fell to Haru, Brodie and Tabitha technically failed it, and since it fell to Haru, he chose to send me in to make it right. I cannot fail." Nate explained got a determined look on her face.

"Luke isn't ready to go into a mission like this by himself, and Ai and Aura have the night off. Besides, I'm Shelly's sidekick, I gotta do whatever job she tells me to do." Cassius nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Besides, this is a simple task. Cassius, you know the building well, right?" Nate asked and looked at the male. "I need to know where every camera is."

"Not too many. One outside, one in the office area, and three in the main part of the building. We just need to get into the office." Cassius explained and stopped short. "There's the first one."

Lily and Nate both looked to the entrance of the building and saw the security camera attached to the roof area. "Espeon." Nate said in a hushed tone. The pink pokemon glowed and the camera suddenly turned upright and faced the sky. "Simple."

"The door should be unlocked, it's just the inside shipyard." Cassius said and walked towards the entrance, sliding the door open with ease. "There are more cameras in here." Espeon hurried past him and his Umbreon to take out the rest of the cameras in the area.

"Are you sure no one is in there?" Lily asked, not wanting to even go in the building.

"Sure of it. Stay out here and stand watch, okay?" Cassius told Lily and slipped into the building when Espeon poked her head out of the door, letting them know the cameras were taken care of. "We'll be out soon." Nate and Umbreon followed him in and they headed to the office.

"Is the door locked?" Nate asked and brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Might be, but Umbreon can take care of that." Cassius smirked and his Umbreon trotted ahead of them and attacked the door knob, unlocking it easily. "Good job buddy. What we need should be somewhere in the office, but we need to make sure we don't make a mess."

"I don't make messes on missions." Nate said and entered the office carefully, looking around for the map they needed. "But finding a map around here might be a problem."

"I don't see why you need a map in the first place." Cassius replied, shifting through a few postal boxes to see if the radar they needed was in one of them.

"I just take what I'm told to take." Nate shrugged. "Something to do with where something is hidden. Haru isn't always clear with the details."

"Don't you like to know the details?"

"They would be helpful, but, I can't complain with Haru much. He can be an ass but he's not all bad. He's simple and to the point, plus, he scares all the new grunts. Very menacing." Nate thumbed through a few papers. "I just have to get use to him."

"He's nothing like Tabitha, is he?"

"No, he's not, but, maybe that's what I need for now."

* * *

Lily glanced around nervously for the millionth time. Her Leafeon nudged her leg, trying to relax her owner. She felt so jumpy and like she was going to get caught at any moment. People passed by her and said nothing to her, assuming that she was just waiting on someone.

"You okay?" Nate asked, poking head out of the door to see if anyone was coming. She slipped out with a rolled up paper in one of her hands. "See? Simple."

"Just hurry on out!" Lily exclaimed as Cassius slipped out with a box in his arms.

"Relax.." Cassius said and shut the door once umbreon and espeon were out. "No one thinks we're doing anything bad. It's fine."

"L-Let's just get back home!" Lily sped off, walking at a brisk pace. Nate and Cassius jogged to keep up and so did their pokemon.

"Fine fine, gosh, you're seriously freaking out." Nate stuffed her hands in her pockets as Espeon jumped up onto her shoulder gracefully.

"I just...guys..." Lily trailed off, shaking her head. "I just...I have a horrible feeling...I can't shake it."

"Horrible feeling about what?" Cassius asked, interested.

"All of this. Everything. " Lily mumbled. "I feel like something is going to happen. Something big. Something...bad."

Natalie and Cassius exchanged looks, wondering if the other knew what Lily was talking about.

"Just be careful, you two." Lily said after a while. They walked in silence the rest of the way to Mauville. All of them were mulling over what Lily had said.

"Ah, better get back to base with this." Cassius lifted the radar a little and sighed. "Guess I won't be sleeping anytime soon."

"Aw, you have to go now?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, they need this now and it's my job." Cassius didn't want to go either, but he knew he had to. "Thanks for dinner."

"No problem, sorry about earlier." Nate gave an apologetic look.

"No worries, next time I'll be more careful." Cassius shrugged. "See you later?" He asked.

"Yeah, see you later." Nate nodded with a small smile on her face before they parted ways, not knowing it would be years before they spoke to each other again.

* * *

Nate felt a blow to her stomach as she looked at her father's house. She just wanted to curl up and hug herself tightly as she looked at the empty house.

"Where is everything?" She asked, not letting it known to him that she was upset. She knew what this meant.

"Johto." Her father nodded, watching the machoke move the last box out of the house and onto a moving truck. "I'm going to go research with professor Elm soon."

"Ah, so, it's over?" She asked, looking at her dad.

"Almost. They have Groudon now. I've worked everything out, and the plans won't work...I hope someone will stop them..." He admitted, upset that years of his life was now wasted. "I can't stay around and watch it all crumble, it won't be safe. For either of us. We'll be wanted." He looked at her now. "The second it goes down, this region will be thrown into chaos."

"What will happen?"

"Nothing good, but, I know it won't destroy this place. Someone keeps messing up their and Team Aqua's plans, a young teenager, I believe, maybe two of them. Those kids will make it right."

"We're hoping that two kids will stop it!?" Nate asked in disbelief.

"Natalie. You knew this was coming." Her dad said in a calm tone. Yes, she did know. She felt like she knew it all along. She had seen the sleeping Groudon, it was wonderful, but it didn't belong in Team Magma's grasp. "I've got ferry tickets to go to Johto, one for you, me, and your friend, Lily. I figured you'd want to take her with you."

Before, she would've been so excited to go into work, but now, she dreaded it. She didn't want this life anymore, but, she didn't really know any other life, or how to get out of it. This was her chance. She had to leave.

"Thanks.." She muttered, biting her lip. "Nothing is the same anymore.."

"I know sweetie, I know." Her dad put his arm around her and sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you involved in this at all. I wanted you to be able to be a teenager and have friends and a life. I didn't want this for you."

"Not your fault, dad." Nate shook her head. "I wanted this life. I didn't think it'd go like this...I'm going back to mom's to pack...then I guess to the base to turn in my uniform.."

"Meet me by the docks in Slateport City at 6, okay?"

"Yes sir." Nate mumbled and trudged back to her mom's house. When did she start to feel this way? She used to be cold and rigid and tough and harsh and the number one grunt, but now she was slipping from her perfect form and no longer seemed to care. Her commander, Haru, had disappeared a week ago and she had been left in charge of his group. Where did he go? She assumed somewhere far away with Ai. He wasn't stupid, he knew what was going to happen. She just wished he gave her warning before leaving so suddenly. She just hoped that someone would stop it all.

"What happened?" Lily asked as Nate entered the house.

"Pack your bags, we're going to Johto."

* * *

Cassius felt a huge knot in his stomach. He groaned and wiped sweat off of his forehead as he finished up the last repairs to the motor on his boat. He had been spending every free minute he had down in Slateport trying to fix up his boat. He knew he had to leave as soon as he could and he wanted to make sure his sails and motor would work to carry him all the way to Kanto-Johto, where his parents were.

Lily was right, something bad was happening. She was a month off, but, right. Things grew more hectic around the base and Cassius couldn't take it anymore. Aura had left and Ai has suddenly disappeared, he assumed with Haru. Dirk had bailed out to go back to his family in Dewford, letting Luke come with him. Everyone was leaving and Cassius knew why. It was about to go down and once it went down, getting out of the region was going to be difficult. If the world didn't get destroyed, security would be bumped up on all boats going out as police scrambled to capture as many fugitive magma and aqua members as they could.

This was him bailing out as well. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't. Nothing was left at Team Aqua for him. Nate was the last thing that kept him there, and he knew that staying on the team was not getting him any closer to her. It was just taking him away from her.

He closed his toolbox and stepped down the stairs into the cabin of his boat to put it away. He knew he had to go buy supplies before he left, but he wanted to go see Nate. It had been a month and he hadn't seen her at all. He wanted to go find her and take her with him, she was a part of his life now, he didn't think he could go the rest of it without having her in it.

"Cassius!" He grandpa called and Cas rushed out onto the deck.

"Yes sir?"

"C'mon, let's go. We've got to get this boat loaded with supplies, or you won't be able to leave on time."

Cassius locked up his boat and sighed. Guess Nate was going to have to wait. He trailed after his grandpa in a dark cloud. Why was he so upset? This was his dream! He wanted to go sail around the world with his pokemon ever since he was a child, but he didn't want to leave like this. Not without saying goodbye.

"Cassius, keep up. It's bad when I'm faster than you." His grandpa scolded him and he hurried to catch up. He looked up at the sky and saw dark clouds forming. Time was running out.

* * *

"Do you want me to go with you?" Lily asked as Nate stepped out of the house with a plastic bag.

"Nah, I gotta do this myself..." Nate muttered, looking down at her folded up uniform in the bag. "It's crazy in the hideout, you'll get lost. I'll be back in an hour, okay?"

"Fine...just hurry, alright? I don't like how those clouds look." She muttered, looking at the dark clouds in the sky. Nate nodded and started to jog down the street, not wanting to get caught in the rain.

She felt like she was barely moving, even though she reached the outskirts of the city in 10 minutes. She slowed down to a fast walk, knowing that if she stopped she might not start again. She didn't want to do this, but she had to. She really didn't want to see everyone again. She just wanted to disappear, like Haru did, like her father was going to do. She felt the cold magma emblem in her pocket and thought about just tossing her uniform into the pond she was passing by and just running straight home, but that was a coward thing to do. Just disappearing was a coward thing, but it was so much easier.

She started to jog again and she passed the desert a few minutes later. She knew what she was really scared of. Seeing Tabitha. The look of disappointment in his eyes would kill her. He raised her to be what she was and he was the reason why she slipped from it and became what she was now. No longer the knight in the game of chess, but just a pawn.

She boarded the cable car, which was actually crowded, and looked out the window as it ascended the mountain. It was hard to believe this would be one of the last times she would see this mountain. Who knew if she was even going to come back? Nate felt eyes on her and she glanced around the car, her eyes stopping on one man.

Ian.

She turned towards the window and tried to stay out of his sight. She had to think of something, fast. They were almost to the top of the mountain, if she called out her houndoom and smokescreened the place, he wouldn't be able to catch her. The car rumbled as they started to slow down and Nate put her hand on houndoom's ball.

"Stop right there!" Ian yelled as the doors opened. Everyone force but Nate threw down the ball.

"Houndoom! Smokescreen!" She ordered. Smoke appeared everywhere and people screamed, not sure what was going on. She and houndroom ran off the car and down the mountain straight into the forest. Her heart was beating fast as she glanced behind her every few seconds to see if anyone was following her. She was so close to getting out, she wasn't getting arrested now. She slowed as she reached the entrance to the base and flashed her magma emblem to open the door.

"Nate?" Rachel asked as Nate stepped into the corridor and walked a few feet down the hall. "What the hell are you doing here? You need to get out!"

"Why?" Nate asked, confused.

"Your dad...he..he left the project unannounced. Everyone is pissed at him and Tabitha is pissed that you bailed out on your duties." Esther chimed in, walking up to the group. "If the other see you they might turn you in."

"I just wanted to get rid of this!" Nate said and tossed the bag that held her uniform onto the floor by their feet. "And say that I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore."

"There she is!" A voice said behind her and she turned around to see three grunts and a zubat, numel, and poochyena.

"Aw.." Nate muttered, putting her hand on her other two pokeballs.

"We've got your back!" Rachel nodded, tossing out a pokeball. "Trickster, let's go!" She called out her Chandelure.

"Vulpix, time to go!" Esther threw out a pokeball and gave Nate a reassuring smile. "Flamethrower! Take down that zubat!"

"Trickster, use Hex on their numel!" Rachel smirked as her pokemon twirled around before attacking. "Haven't had a good battle in a while!"

"Neither have I." Nate smiled. "Houndroom, crunch!" It launched at the small poochyena with a growl.

"Fire spin!"

"Shadow Ball!"

"Fire fang!"

The pokemon battled it out in the narrow hallway. The grunts fell back as their pokemon tripped over each other, unable to battle together like Rachel, Nate and Esther's pokemon were doing. They weaved in an out of each other without being told to and knocked out their pokemon one by one.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" A voice echoed down the hallway and Esther jumped back, startled.

"It's the commander." Rachel whispered. "Nate, you need to go! He'll get you for sure!"

"I can't just leave you two." Nate shook her head. She had dealt with a pissed Tabitha before, she could handle it.

"No Nate, you need to get out of here." Esther said surely, something Nate had never seen before. She gave Esther a look and the girl looked at the ground. "Or you can stay it's your choice."

"No, she's going!" Rachel balled her fist and nodded towards the door. "Go!"

"Fine, but you two get out as soon as you can and leave the region!" Nate turned and ran, with her houndoom by her feet.

"NATE!" Tabitha shouted and it made her run faster. She ran out of the base and down the ridges and ledges that led down towards the desert. Houndoom leaped after her, keeping up with his trainer. It started to drizzle and then the rain started to come down harder. Nate returned houndoom to his pokeball, knowing that he shouldn't be out in the rain. She could see the city when she heard something fly above her. "Nate." Tabitha called out, landing his salamence right in front of her. She panicked and ran past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back before she could make it.

"Let me go!" She growled, thrashing about.

"Stop it!" He ordered, gripping her arm a little tighter, but not tight enough to hurt her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm trying to get home! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"Why are you trying to go home? Why did you run off? Why didn't you show up for work?!"

"Because I quit!" Nate shouted at him, still struggling in his grasp. "Okay? I quit, damn it! I can't do it anymore! I haven't been able to do this damn job for a while now!"

"What? Why?" Tabitha asked, his eyes narrowing. "Is it because of that Cassius guy?"

"Cassius? No! Why the hell do you think that?" Nate asked and shook her head. "You know what? I don't care." She pulled her wrist out of his grasp. "I've been ignored by someone I loved and I refuse to do it anymore. You can't just stand here asking me all of these questions! That's not right or fair and I'm sick of it."

"Na-"

"No! You have nothing else to say to me!" She shouted at him, feeling the rain hit her face. " I am leaving." She turned on her heel and ran off, not looking back. She ran straight home, not looking back or stopping to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked as Nate entered the house, soaking wet. "You need to take a hot shower.."

"No time, ferry leaves in two hours. Are you packed?" Nate asked, looking at her pokegear to see a missed call from her dad.

"Yes bu-"

"But what?" Nate asked, her pokegear pressed up against one ear to hear the voice mail he had left her as she slipped her shoes off.

"Your mother.."

"Shit.." Nate groaned, forgetting all about her mom. She trudged down the hallway and into the bathroom, where she peeled off her wet clothes and wrapped herself in a towel before going into her room to change and finish packing. She had no clue what she was going to tell her mother. She was hoping her father could handle it and from the message on her pokegear, he was going to be here any minute.

"Paul? What are you doing here?" She heard her mother say from the front door. She pulled her hair back and rushed to put on whatever clothes she could find. She zipped her two bags shut and ran out into the hallway with them.

"You haven't told her?" He looked at Nate and she sheepishly looked at her mother.

"I'm...going to Johto with dad...and Lily..." Nate mumbled.

"What? Why? And why haven't you told me?" She looked hurt and Nate suddenly realized how horrible of a daughter she had been the past few years.

"Mom..I'm sorry, I messed up.." She dropped her bags onto the floor. "I really really messed up...and I need to leave...for...a while.."

"Why?" Her mother asked, staring at her with wide eyes. She knew the answer, somehow she knew all along, but she had been hoping she was wrong.

"I'm really sorry." Nate repeated. "Dad tried to talk me out of it, so please don't blame him. It was all me. It wasn't your fault at all and it wasn't his fault either. I was just naive..."

"It better not had been his idea! I didn't want you anywhere near Team Magma!"

"Neither did I! She's telling the truth." Her dad pointed out.

"I know, you're mad at me for lying all these years and I deserve it. I really deserve much worse, but dad and I need to get out of here, soon. If we don't, we might get in more trouble.." Nate explained and hugged her mom tightly. "I really am sorry. I'll make it up to you, promise. I'll catch every cute pokemon I see and send them all to you, then you can enter contest with them and dress them up and show them off to all of your friends."

"Oh sweetie.." Her mother hugged her back, almost crying. "You better get me the cutest you can find! Then you better find a boyfriend!"

"I will.." Nate said, relaxed at how well her mother was taking it.

"Just, be happy. Make me proud, okay?" She looked at Nate and she nodded her head. "And enter some contests. You tried what your father did; now it's time for you to actually try out what I have been suggesting."

"I will, it might be fun..." Nate muttered, not so sure if she should be agreeing to enter contests, but she owed her mother that much. She wasn't mad at Nate at all. "I'll give it my all and get you the best pokemon, but for now.." Nate muttered, pulling a pokeball out of her pocket. She held it out to her mom. "Keep him with you, alright? I know you're scared of him, but he'll protect you no matter what. Dad and I won't be around to come and help you and you'll get lonely. He's great company."

"I can't take him." Her mother said, but Nate shoved the pokeball towards her again.

"Mom, take him." Nate said with a serious expression. She loved her houndoom to pieces. He protected her for years, but now she knew her mom needed him way more than she did. Her mom took the pokeball and held it tightly.

"We've got to go now if we want to get to the ferry." Her dad reminded them, opening the front door to reveal the cab waiting outside. "Let me get your bags." He said and took Lily and Nate's bags.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay with you!" Lily said and was pulled into a hug by Nate's mother.

"Oh sweetie stop by anytime you need and please make sure Nate socializes and has fun please." She said and Nate pulled Lily away from her mother and pushed her out the door.

Nate stepped out of the house. "Take good care of him, okay? He needs to be walked everyday and tell him I love him and to be a good boy." She explained before her dad shot her a look. "Call you when we get there love you mom!" She yelled and hurried inside the cab with her dad and lily. She shut the door and waved to her mom before they sped off through the rain and towards Slateport city and a new start.

* * *

"You need to get going." Cassius' grandpa said, pushing Cassius onto the boat. "Before it gets worse. Now, you know how to get to Kanto, right?"

"Yes sir." Cassius nodded, handing his umbrella to his grandpa to take so he wouldn't get wet.

"Do you know what city they're in? Do you know where the lab is?"

"Yes. Gramps, come on, I gotta go now. You need to get somewhere safe, okay?"

"Don't tell me what do to; it's your fault all this is happening!" His grandpa scolded him.

"I know, I know, I'm really sorry. I'll call you when I get there." Cassius hugged him one last time and started the motor on his boat. "Here we go.." He mumbled, driving the boat away from Slateport City and out onto the wild ocean.

* * *

**Bam. Okay, so, I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be the end to the story. I think it'll just be...it's hard to explain. It'll explain where they are now and how they got that way, but in story mode. It will skip time a lot, but I really want to make sure I end it right. **


	24. Chapter 25

**I honestly hated the last chapter. I've always wanted to re do it. So, here it is. The newer last chapter.**

* * *

Natalie looked out at the ocean as she leaned against a railing on a sidewalk in Sunyshore City, her new home. Well, new home for a year now, so, probably not so new anymore. She glanced down at her watch and left her position on the railing. She walked towards the Sunyshore Gym to start her shift. Currently, she was a gym trainer at the electric gym. She challenged any trainers that crossed her path while they tried to get to Volkner, the gym leader.

"Good afternoon." Nate said and looked up at Volkner, who was sitting in his chair like a bored king. He was higher up than she was, but he was still able to hear her voice clearly.

"Good afternoon, Nate." He replied, and followed it with a bored sigh. This was an everyday thing, but she didn't mind. It felt nice to have something stable to fall back on. It had been two years, but she still wasn't over what happened in Hoenn. She sat down on one of the steps of the stairs and pulled out a book to read while she waited for any challengers.

It was times like these, when she sat in silence listening to gears in the gym move and turn about, that she thought about everything that happened to her, and what she was going to do in the future. She usually decided that she was fine doing this. She was only 19, she had plenty of time to figure things out. She became engrossed in her book about Latias and lost track of time. She snapped out of her book world when she heard footsteps approaching her.

"Spark Plug, let's go." She called out the Luxray and turned towards the challenger. Luxray was the only pokemon she used in the gym, seeing as it was an electric type. Usually, she lost the battle, but, she didn't care too much. She had one pokemon while most challengers had 6, so, no way she would win all the time.

"False alarm." Mikhail said and raised his hands. Nate glared at the male, mad at him for making her lose her spot in her book. "I'm bored. Jordan and Leighton are on a date and they won't let me go with them."

"Well, it is a date." Nate said and scooted over to make room for Mikhail on the step. He plopped down next to her and scratched Spark Plug's ear. Natalie had met up with the trio when she came to Sunyshore. Deciding to put the past behind her, she forgave them for deceiving her and they started over. Mikhail would often come visit her, out of boredom and wanting to see Volkner.

"So, how's Lily?" Mikhail asked, not being able to enjoy the silence like the others.

"Fine, having tons of fun guarding the temple up in Snowpoint." Nate shut her book, knowing she wasn't going to get to read anymore. She had gone to Johto and Kanto with Lily, but soon parted ways with the girl in Sinnoh. She knew the girl has a job in Snowpoint, and made Lily stay there to do it. Lily would come down and visit often and they would chat on the video phone too, so they continued to be best friends.

"Ready for dinner?" Volkner asked, walking down the stairs. He was still bored, but not as much as before. He had been able to enjoy battles a lot more lately, so he was livelier. "Flint wants us to meet him outside soon, so we might as well go now."

"Sweet, I'm starving!" Mikhail jumped up. Nate got up and returned her pokemon to its ball and followed the two blondes out of the gym and into the bright sunlight. Just as Volkner said, the red head was waiting for them outside.

"Let's gooo!" Flint cheered. He and Mikhail took the lead, like they always did. Nate and Volkner fell in step behind them.

"So, what's up?" Volkner asked, looking at Nate.

"Mom called me this morning, things are calming down in Hoenn." Nate said and he nodded his head. At first, Natalie had lied about almost everything about her to Flint and Volkner when she met them, scared that if they found out she was an ex-magma grunt, they would turn her in. Volkner somehow found out she was lying, so she came clean to them about everything that happened, everything, and they accepted her anyway. She owed them a lot. "She says she loves living in Lilycove. It's much better than Mauville."

"It is a beautiful city, right by the ocean." Volkner commented. Nate looked over at the ocean as they walked and ran her hand along the railing. They soon came to a little sandwich shop and sat outside as they ate dinner. Flint and Mikhail mostly talked, arguing about who would win in a battle, Mikhail's charizard or Flint's rapidash. It was decided that after they finished eating they would go down to the beach so they could find out who would.

Volkner and Nate tagged along since they didn't have much to do. The beach was always pleasant in the twilight. Nate hated the water, but she enjoyed the rest of the beach. She and Volkner walked along the shoreline as Flint and Mikhail battled. Everytime Nate looked at the ocean, the only thing she could think about was Cassius. That idiotic Aqua grunt that ended up becoming a good friend to her. She wasn't so sure where he was now or whether or not he was okay, and this always made her feel bad.

"You okay?" Volkner asked, noticing that the girl's mood at dropped.

"Yeah..." She mumbled and kicked up some wet sand with her feet. "Just...you know..."

"I'm sure he's fine." Volkner said and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "If he's anything like you said he was, he's probably on his boat somewhere, soaking up some sun."

* * *

Cassius yawned and sat up, done with laying in the sun. He lazed around his sail boat, taking meowth naps every once in a while, enjoying the heat from the sun. Once it got dark, he dropped anchor and returned to his cabin on the boat and settled down for the evening. This was how the past two years had been for him, and he loved every second of it. Traveling around with his pokemon was just what he wanted to do.

However, he was starting to get a little lonely. He wished he had gotten Nate and Lily and took them with him, but he had no idea where they were. He was hoping they were in Sinnoh, that's where he was now.

He had seen Nate a year before, but it was just a glimpse of her in a busy market in Johto. He tried to go after her, but he lost her amongst the crowd. He felt a bit pathetic, searching for her, but she was important to him. They helped change one another years ago and he wanted to see how she was now. He wanted to know what happened to her all those years ago. He wanted to know how she left. Where she went afterwards. Where she was now.

Ever since he met the girl, she was such a problem to him. Sure, he was annoying, but, she wasn't a walk in the park either.

However, he liked her anyway. As he woke up the next morning and set sail for Snowpoint, he knew she was nowhere in the city the moment het dropped anchor in the port. She hated snow and cold. He needed supplies though, so he dressed warmly and trudged out into the snow. Finding the poke'mart was a little challenging, but he survived with all fingers and toes intact.

"Cassius?!" A female voiced shouted as he loaded his bags onto his boat. His heart stopped for a moment, thinking that it could possibly be Nate. He heard crunches in the snow as the person ran towards him. "Cassius!" He was hugged from the side, by Lily!

"Lily?" He asked, hugging the girl back.

"I knew it was you! I'm so happy to see you!" She cheered, hugging him tighter. "I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too." He chuckled, patting her back. "Are you alone?"

"Alone? Oh, yeah. Nate left me a year ago. She told me I had to stay here to do my job while she went down to Sunyshore to have fun..."

"Sunyshore?" She was so close! He could get there in a day! "Say…why don't you come along with me?"

* * *

"I'm trying to finish this chapter." Nate said as she held up a finger to a trainer who wanted to get to Volkner. It had to be returned to the library today, and she had to finish it. She had checked out every book she could find about mythology in the Sunyshore Library, at least twice. She wished they just let her keep the books.

"Come on!" The trainer whined and she glared at him.

"Even if you beat me, I can send you packing kid. I'm not sending you up there to lose swiftly to Volkner. You snuck past every trainer in this gym, so I'm not allowing you to past! Go back to the start and train!" She ordered, silencing the boy and sending him packing.

"Harsh." Volkner called down to her.

"I don't deal with impatient children." She murmured, shutting her book to look up at him. "He was weak, he would have lost to you."

"How do you know?"

"I sensed it. He would have argued with me if I was wrong about him bypassing the trainers in the gym. He probably doesn't even know how to battle against electric types." She knew she sounded mean, but, that's how she was. Being nice got her nowhere with some trainers.

"C'mon, time to call it a day." He decided, ready to leave the gym. The two left and Nate pulled him over the library, so she could return the books she had and get more.

"She's probably at the library." Lily told Cassius as she pulled him along. He was too nervous. What if Nate hated him? What if she was completely different? "Relax. She's not different. She does contests now, she works at the gym, she reads books, and she still insults people. That sums Nate up right there."

"But.." He muttered, then froze when he saw the blonde girl walking out of the library. Another tall blond male was walking with her, carrying books.

"Nate!" Lily shouted. Nate looked up and saw Lily and Cassius and froze, unsure if she was seeing them right. "Look who I found!"

"Hey!" Cassius waved, not knowing what else to do. Nate spoke a few words to Volkner, before he put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her forward like a mother would a child. "Long time no see, right?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nate asked as she walked up to them. "I thought you were out sailing the seas?"

"And I thought you were on an adventure with Lily. I found her all alone in Snowpoint, shivering and scared." Cassius joked and Nate punched him arm, trying to hold back a smile.

"You're an idiot…" She said and let out a surprised yelped when Cassius hugged her tightly.

"Yeah but you misssseeedddd meeeee!" He cooed, smiling when she hugged him back. "Now I'm back in your life for good!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." She murmured, resting her chin on his shoulder.  
"But I'll kick your ass if you irritate me!"

"Yeah yeah, now how about you give me a tour of this place since I'll be staying here a while?" He asked, letting her go.

"Go on, I'll take the books to your house. Come on Lily." Volkner said. Lily didn't want to go, but she left anyway, pouting and whining the whole way.

"So, you're staying?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, might as well. I've done all the traveling I want to do." Cassius shrugged.

"Alright, there's just a few things I need to tell you then…" Nate trailed off.

"Cassius?" Leighton questioned from behind them.

"Are you serious?" Cassius asked, turning around. "Did we all just end up here?" He saw Mikhail and Jordan running towards them, trying to catch up with Leighton.

"Yeah, we're friends now though." Nate said, shrugging. "We're actually going to dinner tonight with them. I guess you and Lily are joining us?"

"I guess we are." Cassius said, feeling very behind. "Fill me in on everything. I can't stand being left out."

"It all started when Nate saw me and punched me in the face…" Mikhail started, rubbing his jaw.

* * *

Cassius and Nate walked along the beach. It was dark now and the beach was almost empty.

"How did you like everyone?" Nate asked after a while. She looked worried that Cassius wouldn't like her new friends.

"I like them. Flint funny and Volkner is pretty chill." Cassius said, making her feel relieved. "So, that guy your boyfriend?" Cassius asked, referring to Volkner.

"No!" Nate shouted, face red. "I'm not ready for a relationship yet…"

"Oh." Cassius muttered.

"I mean I like him and I think he might like me but I don't want to risk that chance." She continued nervously. "I'm just not ready yet."

Cassius knew what she meant. She had her heartbroken by a guy she was in love with for years. "You know, I think you should take that chance with him." Cassius said and she looked at him, surprised. "Hear me out. I watched how you two interacted throughout dinner. He clearly likes you, but he understands that you're not fully ready for it yet. He's fine with waiting for you to be ready. That's a pretty nice guy."

"I know.." She muttered.

"But take your time, don't rush into it." He suggested. "I can sense that this place is filled with gorgeous women. I can't wait."

"Idiot." Nate rolled her eyes, but he just smirked at her.

"Yeah yeah. Hey, did you know I saw you in a market place once?"

"Uh…yeah." Nate said, embarrassed. "I saw you too, but I ran away, I'm sorry.."

"What? Why?"

"Because, I was such a mess. I was so paranoid and worried that someone was going to know me from Team Magma, or that Tabitha was going to come after me or something. I wasn't ready to meet you again.."

Cassius groaned and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "I wasn't ready to meet you either….we were seriously fucked up by those teams…"

"I know." She grumbled, resting her head on his shoulder. "But at least we're better. Volkner and Flint told me that if anyone messes with me, all I have to do is call one of them and the person will disappear."

"He's willing to take someone out for you? That's true love right there." Cassius chuckled and Nate glared at him.

"He's a gym leader and Flint is in the Elite Four. They know how to get rid of problems. I might make them get rid of you."

"Ah, no, you loveeeee meee too much!" He laughed, hugging her tightly and tried to kiss her obnoxiously.

"Cas, stop it!" Nate groaned, embarrassed.

"Why won't you say you loveee meee?" He whined, grabbing hold of her waist like a child would. "I've got tons of harassment to do. 2 years' worth."

"URG!" Nate sighed, hitting his head.

* * *

**Alternative Ending **

Cassius' panicked and turned around and ran as fast as he could. He just wasn't ready to meet her. He really wasn't. He knew he was being stupid, but, that was normal for him, so he ran straight for the beach, slowing to a walk as he went under the pier.

She looked the same, yet different, and who was the guy walking with her?! Probably her boyfriend. Wait, Lily never said anything about Nate having a boyfriend, so maybe he was just a friend?

He shouldn't have come. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't know what to say to her. He had missed her every day while he traveled. He constantly thought about her. It was driving him insane. He had thought about what he would tell her when he saw her again a million times, but now nothing was coming to his head.

He ran, which, was horrible because now he was going to have to explain why he ran, but at least he had time to think about what he would say.

"What the hell you idiot!?" Nate shouted, storming up to him.

Okay, maybe he had no time.

"Sorry, I-" He started but Nate didn't let him finish.

"No, you don't just show up out of the blue after 2 years and run!" She shook her head. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't know." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know why I ran, I'm sorry. I just…I didn't know what to say to you. I didn't want to come and met you, Lily forced me to."

"Sorry she forced you to come and see me." Nate sounded pissed. He realized what he said might have offended her.

"No! Not that way-I just-I wanted to think about a funny and witty thing to say to you when we saw each other!" Cassius explained as she crossed her arms. "I promise, I did want to see you. You have no idea…" He trailed off, rubbing his neck.

Nate watched him, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not. His cheeks were pink and he looked very nervous. He kept rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the ground, which was very un-Cassius like. "Are you okay?" She asked, stepping closer to him. "You look hot."

"Uh..I'm fine." He took a step back, not wanting to get close to her.

"No, you're not. You would've made some smartass comment about me saying that you look hot." She knew him too well.

"I missed you." He said, surprising the both of them. "A…a lot." He said nervously, feeling the need to bolt again. "I thought about you a lot when I was traveling…I was worried that you were stuck in Hoenn or that you were arrested. I saw you in a market once. You didn't hear me, but, at least I know you weren't stuck in jail."

"I got out." She said. "I listened to you."

"For once."

"I'm listening to you now, and, I missed you too." She murmured the last part, embarrassed she even admitted it.

Now they were stuck in an awkward silence. At least he knew she had missed him too. He needed to say something, but, he didn't know what to say. It started to drizzle, then downpour. He was stuck underneath a pier with Nate, while it was down pouring all around them. He couldn't tell if it was his lucky day or if his luck just ran out.

"Of course." Nate grumbled, sitting down against one of the wooden poles that held the pier up.

"Guess we're goin' sit it out then?" He asked, sitting next to her.

"No way in hell I'm walking home in that. It's a 10 minute walk to my house."

"It's a 3 minute walk to mine, and we can run." Cassius stood up and held his hand out to her. "C'mon. The harbor is close by."

"I don't like boats…" She said, but Cassius pulled her up anyway. "Hey!" She shouted as he pulled her out into the rain. It was cold and hit her face hard. She could barely see where she was going, so she tightened her hold on Cassius' hand.

"Have a little trust in me!" He shouted over the rain and ran. He knew she was pissed, but they were close to the boat anyway. He pulled his keys out of his pocket as he climbed onto the boat. He helped Nate down and unlocked the door and Nate hurried down the stairs that led to the cabin of the boat. He stepped in and locked the door behind him. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, Nate was standing on the tile in the kitchen, soaking wet.

"I hate you." She growled, shivering. She looked adorable, but, deadly.

"No you don't." Cassius said, leading her the bathroom. He hoped she didn't. "Take a hot shower and relax."

"I don't have any extra clothes!" Nate exclaimed and he rolled his eyes.

"I'll give you some of mine. Just shower and hang your clothes up in here to dry." He left her to go through his drawers to find something that might fit her. He left a shirt and a pair of boxers in the bathroom, after Nate yelled at him telling him to get out while she was showering. He went to change and then walked out into the main living area.

"So dramatic." He muttered to Umbreon and Espeon, who were sitting on a chair happily, enjoying each other's company. "Glad you two are getting along." He heard the shower cut off and he sighed, rubbing a towel through his hair again and then hung it around his neck, moving into the kitchen to get something to drink.

Nate came out, drying her hair with a towel. The shirt fit her fine and so did the boxers, thank goodness. He really didn't want her to complain about them. She did look really good though. He wouldn't mind seeing her walk around every day in his clothes.

"Did you hear me?" Nate said, leaning against the counter in the kitchen, standing a few feet from him. "Obviously not."

"What?" He asked.

"Can I have some?" She asked, looking at his drink. He handed it over to her and she took a sip, then handed it back to him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" He shook his head, trying to remain calm. "I just…..uhm.." He didn't know what to say. Nate looked at him, waiting for him to finish. When he didn't, she just walked over to the couch and plopped down, scratching Espeon's ear.

"You're acting weird." She announced finally. He sat down next to her and groaned. "What is with you?"

"Nothing." He lied. He couldn't just straight up tell her he was in love with her!

"Obviously not. You're nervous, I can tell. You got something to tell me?" She questioned, looking him straight in the eyes. "Let me guess, you're leaving soon? You're scared Lily or me will keep you here?"

"What? No!" He shook his head. "Of course not, I'm staying here!"

"You sure?"

"I just found you, I'm not running off!" He said seriously. "Nate I…" He started, taking a deep breath. "Well.."

"What?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, half expecting her to punch him in the face. She surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. When he broke the kiss for air, she blushed and looked away, embarrassed.

"Eager, aren't we?" Cassius joked and she hit his chest lightly. "Too cute." He murmured, leaning in to kiss her again.

* * *

"Hey, Cas, are you here?" Lily's voice called out, waking Cassius up. He yawned and looked around, realizing he must have fallen asleep. Nate was asleep, her head buried in the crook of his neck. She was curled up under the sheets and Cassius smiled at her, forgetting Lily was even looking for him. "Cas?" Lily repeated, peaking her head in his bedroom. "What th-"

"Shush." Cassius shushed her while Lily looked at him with an open mouth. "What?" He whispered.

"Where's your shirt?" Lily asked.

* * *

**Okay, the alternate ending was for all the people that really wanted Cassius and Nate to get together, so I tried to make it really good! **

**This is it for this story! Thank you for reading and I hope you guys like this last chapter better than the one I previously had. **


End file.
